- Toyota is considering phasing out gasoline-only cars in the U.S.
- Purely gasoline-powered cars will soon represent a minority of Toyota sales
- Toyota chief scientist says carbon-neutral e-fuels make sense
Toyota remains strong against the transition to a line of pure electric vehicles, reasoning that the costs and necessary infrastructure still need many years or possibly decades to reach the level where they can support widespread adoption of EVs.
However, the automaker not interested in maintaining gas-powered vehicles on sale forever too. In an interview with Bloomberg published last Thursday, Gill Pratt, Toyota’s chief scientist, said the automaker is already in the process of deciding whether to eliminate pure gas engines from its U.S. lineup, which would force customers to choose between hybrid (and plug-in hybrid), only electric or fuel cell vehicles.
“In the US, there is a decision being made now – and I am not part of it – about stopping manufacturing pure ICE for the US market,” he said. “Just the fact that we’re thinking about it means, OK, it must be close.”
In September, sales of electrified vehicles represented about 48% of Toyota’s total. Just two years ago, they represented less than 20%. If the trend continues, vehicles powered exclusively by a gas powertrain will soon be a minority at Toyotathe world’s largest automaker by volume.
Gill Pratt
Toyota posted record profits last financial year thanks to strong demand for hybrids, although the automaker is also keen to add more EVs to its lineup. Toyota said last year it plans to offer 10 EVs by the end of 2026 for the Toyota and Lexus brands, after which the automaker will launch next-generation electric vehicles with much greater range.
However, some of these EVs may experience delays. THE Nikkei reported on Thursday that the start of production of a Three-row electric SUV at Toyota’s Kentucky plant has been delayed from 2025 to 2026. The Japanese publication also reported that Toyota has canceled plans to begin production of new Lexus electric SUVs in the U.S. by 2030 and will instead ship these vehicles from Japan.
Strong EV demand means that many car manufacturers who committed to exclusively selling EVs by the end of the decade are now backtracking on those plans. Among them were strong EV advocates like Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.
In his interview with Bloomberg, Pratt also praised the development of carbon-neutral e-fuelslike what Porsche is already generating at a pilot plant in Chile. While acknowledging the loss of energy during the production process, he said e-fuels are a good solution for storing and transporting excess energy generated by renewable sources. He also said e-fuels could be used to reduce emissions from the existing global fleet of gas and diesel vehicles, which number more than one billion.