Issue 56

How's Toyota Doing
in the EV Market?

Toyota had partnered with Tesla to produce an electric RAV4 EV back in 2012, but their partnership was dissolved, and their experience may have left a bad taste in their mouth regarding Tesla. Ironically, at that same time, Toyota had purchased millions of dollars of Tesla stock, which it then sold when the partnership dissolved. Toyota broke even on the stock sale, but had they held onto that stock, it would be worth many billions of dollars today.

Toyota's first all-electric EV offering on their own was a flop, plagued by wheels falling off while driving, and being a very feature-poor vehicle. They have stated many conflicting things over the years, like they will be coming out with a complete lineup of great EVs (that were due to be out already)...

...and then saying that hydrogen would be the fuel of the future, even though that pursuit would be doomed to failure, while at the same time running promotional campaigns and ads in Japan against EVs, aimed at children.

They have at times fought EVs at every step of the way. Understandably, just like American automakers, they didn't want to make EVs because changing over to them would hurt short term profits, but also because many of the materials needed to make an EV had to come from their nemesis, China. And Toyota (and Japan in general) didn't want to have to rely on China for anything (this had to do with their geographical proximity to China).

Then Toyota's engineers got their hands on a Tesla Model Y – which had become the best-selling vehicle in the world – and tore it apart, and said it was a masterpiece of engineering (which it was). And the Model Y wasn't just the best-selling EV, it was the best-selling car.

Now Toyota appears to have finally seen the light, and is trying to reinvent itself, and in so doing, copying Tesla's playbook, like acquiring huge gigacasting machines so they can change how they make the car's chassis.

That's the machine behind the people. Big, isn't it!

Tesla's car manufacturing innovations have been groundbreaking (like the above pictured gigapress), so it's no wonder that Toyota is trying to copy them. But even here, Toyota believes they can make a better gigacasting machine than Tesla. Their plan is not a good one, but Toyota can't see this because of their intense desire to pinch pennies instead of spending the appropriate amount of money to do it "right". Some people just have to learn the hard way, and Toyota personnel seem to be famous for that.

It's ironic that back in the 1970s, Toyota's Lean Production System was copied by the American automakers because the invasion of well-built and low cost Japanese cars into America were deeply cutting into Ford, GM, and Chrysler's market shares and profits. Now China's and Tesla's EVs stand to have this same effect on the Japanese automakers.

So although Toyota has grown to be the #1 automaker in the world, their market-share is now declining as more and more people are buying EVs rather than cars with engines and tailpipes. Because Toyota believed that Tesla would fail, and Tesla didn't, Toyota is now suffering from "too little too late", as they are definitely late to the game.

Toyota executive tries to
BS the Australian people

Toyota Exec: "EVs currently don’t make sense in countries like Australia, where the majority of electricity continues to come from coal-fired power stations," said Sean Hanley, Toyota Australia VP of sales.

But the Tesla Model Y EV is the best selling overall vehicle in Australia. Hmmm.

And Mr. Hanley is obviously not much of an expert on the Australian electricity grid or the speed of the transition. Renewables accounted for 8% of the electricity mix in 2009 and 31% today. Solar and wind are booming and coal is in a significant decline. Already today the lifetime emissions of electric vehicles are far better than internal combustion, and that gap is widening as the grid gets cleaner. Aussies love distributed solar/storage, so thousands of families are already running their EVs on 100% clean electricity from the sun.

But Hanley's arguement is even crazier in Australia in particular. Australia imports ~90% of its oil while being the current and future home to a growing battery materials mining and processing industry.

From industrial policy to clean air policy, it is a no-brainer for the Australian people and government to move quickly to battery electric vehicles. Aussies are too smart than to be tricked by cynical PR that aims to slow the sustainable transportation transition to help sell Toyota's internal combustion vehicles in the short term.

Apart from the compelling policy arguments, EVs will continue to see their sales grow in Australia, and globally, because they’re safer, more affordable, and more fun to drive.

More EV info

Evidence in support of the above

EV Buyer's Guide