Japan to phase out gasoline cars, Toyota chief

Japan would still allow the sale of gasoline-electric hybrid cars after 2035 as part of the plan. Many models from top Japanese car manufacturers – Toyota, Honda Motor Co.

and Nissan Motor Co.

—Find in both traditional and hybrid versions.

Earlier this month, Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda said if Japan banned gasoline-powered cars and moved too quickly to electric vehicles, “the auto industry’s current business model will collapse.” He was speaking on behalf of Japanese automakers in his role as head of a local industry association.

Mr Toyoda said the power grid could not handle the extra summer demand and observed that most of Japan’s electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels.

Government officials have said automakers need to review their business models. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga referred to a different part of Mr. Toyoda’s comments in which the Toyota chief said he supported the government’s goal of making Japan carbon neutral by 2050. Reducing emissions from carbon “should be approached as a strategy for growth and not as a limitation on growth,” said Mr. Suga.

Japan’s Christmas Day post, which also included a plan to introduce up to 45 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2040, topped a year in which major economies around the world competed for outdo themselves in setting targets for renewable energy and electric cars. .

In September, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in a video message to the United Nations that China would become carbon neutral by 2060, which means it would have no net emissions of carbon dioxide. A month later, Suga beat Xi by pledging to do the same ten years earlier, corresponding to the European Union’s goal.

The Japanese government’s plan calls for the electrification of all new cars sold in the country from the mid-2030s. This includes electric vehicles, gas-electric hybrid models and cars whose electricity is generated by gasoline engines. hydrogen fuel cells. The plan says the cost of batteries should be reduced so that electric vehicles cost about the same as gasoline vehicles within a decade.

A preview of the plan released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry expressed fears that Europe and China could overtake Japan. He observed that sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles more than tripled in the EU in the July-September quarter to around 270,000 units, while the equivalent figure for Japan was around 6,000.

Masayoshi Arai, an official at the ministry, said that “Japan is very far behind” in the electrification of vehicles.

Japanese auto executives bristle at such claims, claiming that more gasoline and electric hybrids are sold in Japan than in any other country. Some wonder if fully electric vehicles such as those made by Tesla Inc.

are more environmentally friendly than hybrids given the carbon dioxide emitted during the production of electric vehicles and their parts.

“It’s absolutely not the case that Japan is late,” said Toshihiro Mibe, a Honda executive who heads an industry council on environmental technologies.

Japan’s move, combined with that of China, Europe and California, puts pressure on global automakers to switch to electric vehicles more quickly, though so far, many profit from avid American consumers of gasoline trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Toyota and Honda have yet to release specific plans for consumer electric vehicles in the United States and Japan, putting them behind Volkswagen. AG

, which plans to invest around $ 86 billion in the development of electric vehicles and other new technologies over the next five years. Nissan says it will sell the Ariya, an electric crossover SUV, next year in the United States and other markets.

Major automakers are scrambling to switch to electric vehicles – and convince investors that they can be successful – despite low consumer adoption.

General Motors Co. said last month it was increasing its bet on electric and driverless cars by more than a third, to an investment of $ 27 billion through 2025. Today, electric vehicles do not represent only about 2% of global sales for GM and the industry in general.

The Detroit auto giant predicts that 40% of the vehicles it sells in the United States by the middle of the decade will be fully electric. If Japanese policy prompts Toyota, Honda and other Japanese automakers to increase their investment in technology, the emerging market could become more competitive globally.

The announcement comes as the United States is set to increase federal investment in electric vehicles as part of an energy plan President-elect Joe Biden intends to implement after taking office in January. It has pledged to create 1 million new jobs in the automotive industry, notably in the construction of charging stations for electric vehicles. His plan calls for half a million new charging stations in the United States

The president-elect said he hoped to use federal incentives – including tax, trade and investment policies as well as increased research and development – to make the United States the world leader in the manufacture of electric vehicles. He said he would offer discounts to consumers and incentives to manufacturing facilities that make parts for low-emission vehicles, and he supports strengthening federal fuel economy standards.

Mr Biden’s presidential transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

—Andrew Restuccia contributed to this article.

Write to Peter Landers at [email protected] and Chieko Tsuneoka at [email protected]