AABC17: : There's a lot of market left to conquer for EVs - Toyota

• Autores: Industrial Minerals
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 595, 2017 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Julio-Agosto)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Electric vehicles still account for just 1% of US market share leaving "a lot more market to conquer", according to Toyota Motor North America. Califonia is leading the way in terms of EV sales, but more government support including incentives is key to achieving national emissions targets. Barbara O'Donovan reports.

    This is the Toyota CT 200h, the brand's exclusively hybrid model, with more than 300,000 units sold from December, 2010 to May, 2017. Sales have remained strong in key geographic regions that include the European Union, China and Japan, where hybrid-vehicle sales continue to grow. Toyota While the trend towards electric vehicles (EV) in the US is good in terms of sales, market share is still very low, Michael Lord, executive engineer, product regulatory affairs/environmental regulation at Toyota Motor North America told delegates at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) in San Francisco on 21 June.

    At just 1% of US market share, "there's a lot more market to conquer" for lithium and graphite consuming EVs, Lord said before adding that the amount of work it has taken to get to current levels should not be underestimated: "It's been very tough up until now." It is 20 years since Toyota introduced the first Prius in Japan and worldwide sales of Toyota hybrids surpassed 10m units in January 2017.

    Hybrids have "played a huge role" in terms of getting to where we are today and "will play an increasing role" as the industry works towards meeting environmental regulations such as the greenhouse gas reduction targets set out by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) scoping plan.

    California is four times the national average in terms of EV sales, which reflects the steps taken in the state in recent years, including commitments made by former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    The latest CARB estimate for California sales based upon the minimum regulatory volumes in 2025 is 1-1.2m units. A CARB's scenario in their Mobile Source Strategy and Scoping Plan shows 4.5m zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) needed by 2030.

    While mandates on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will play a part in moving towards these goals, a reliance on them will only have limited returns and broader collaboration is required if targets really are to be met, according to Lord.

    OEMs will obviously need to make a good product and reducing cost is a prerequisite but, by itself, will not lead to the mass market.

    "ZEV volumes in such scale will require cooperative actions by the government, auto industry, energy suppliers and customers," Lord told delegates.

    Government support is key with more monetary and non-monetary incentives needed.

    Simplified electric rates are also necessary as customers find it very difficult to understand the price of electricity.