% Toyota setting conditions/terms before making EVs = Sham/pretense, Toyota prefers to make profitable non-EVs %
http://www.plugincars.com/toyota-europe-wants-clean-grid-pushing-electric-cars-127465.html [image] Toyota Europe Wants Clean Grid Before Pushing Electric Cars By Brad Berman June 10 2013 [image http://www.plugincars.com/sites/default/files/26%20Didier-Stevens_small.jpg Didier Stevens, Toyota's head of environmental affairs, charging a plug-in Prius at Toyota Motor Europe's office in Brussels ] It’s no secret that Toyota is lukewarm on pure electric cars. Didier Stevens, Toyota Europe’s head of government affairs and environmental issues, today provided an articulated rationale for why the company is content to mostly sit on the sidelines when it comes to all-electric cars. According to Stevens, EVs really aren’t that green, when considering today’s energy mix. Stevens’s comments were published today on RTCC.org, a U.K.-based non-profit website that focuses a climate change issues. “We always assess a vehicle from well to wheel,” said Stevens. “If the electricity is not sourced from renewables then it makes little sense.” He said that Toyota would “prefer to step back” unless electricity provided to electricity cars is produced by low-carbon renewable sources. In other words, Steven is challenging European utilities to reduce the carbon content of grid-supplied electricity, which is used as fuel for electric cars. He pointed to recent failures by the U.K. parliament to set low-carbon targets in a new energy bill. And he questioned Germany’s pro-EV position. “We are looking with some concern at the German plan of having 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2020,” he said. “If more and more of their electricity is going to come from coal, then this does not solve the problem. It just shifts the emissions to another area. This is not how it should be.” EV detractors have questioned the overall green-ness of electric cars for years. But the general consensus among academics and researchers is that, even in a coal-dependent region, electric cars have an environmental edge over the most fuel-efficient internal combustion car. That’s due to the dramatic gains in vehicle efficiency offered by electric motors and powertrains. In regions where electricity is produced from renewable sources – like the U.S. Pacific Northwest where hydro is a dominant source – electric cars are significantly greener. Reluctance, On Whose Part? Stevens said Toyota, regardless, will introduce an electric vehicle in Europe by 2015—but for the time being it will focus on hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Toyota is also dedicating vast resources to development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, to be introduced in 2015. Steven said that the electricity sector is interested in electric vehicles as a means of energy storage, but shows “a little reluctance” when it comes to green energy, pro-EV policies, and electric car charging infrastructure. He also dismissed the idea that electric cars would be a good solution for developing nations, such as China, India and Brazil—because the technology is relatively expensive. “If we build electric cars nobody can afford nobody wins,” he said. “Not us, not the governments, not the environment.” [©2013 PluginCars.com] http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1084732_toyota-no-more-plug-in-electric-cars-if-electricity-doesnt-get-cleaner-in-europe Toyota: No More Plug-In Electric Cars If Electricity Doesn't Get Cleaner (In Europe)? By Antony Ingram Jun 11, 2013 - According to Responding to Climate Change, the automaker sees "little sense" in electric vehicles if the grid powering them isn't largely supplied by renewable ... http://www.autoevolution.com/news/toyota-to-leave-electric-car-market-61200.html Toyota to Leave Electric Car Market? by Ciprian Florea 12th June 2013 - Toyota Europe could abandon the electric car market unless electricity supplies won’t become 100 percent green in the future, the automaker announced earlier this week ... For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: Ford will not update Focus Electric for 2014 EVLN: Renault Kangoo Z.E. vans for P&T Luxembourg's EV fleet r:170km EVLN: Like the iPhone, I didn’t know I “needed” a Leaf EV until I tried it ... EVLN: Panasonic Delivers 100+M Li-ion Battery Cells for Tesla-S EVs + EVLN: Price Cuts Work, Creating Wait Lists For Honda Fit EVs {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-No-More-Toyota-EVs-If-Electricity-Doesn-t-Get-Cleaner-tp4663645.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
