Toyota Engineer Dismisses EV Vehicles As Not Ecologically Sound And Will Never Become Mainstream

Battery-powered electric vehicles don't have a practical future as a long-range alternative to conventional cars even if technological breakthroughs allow them to be charged quickly, a top engineer at Toyota Motor Corp. said today.

Electric vehicle (EV) supporters have touted developing high-speed charging technology as the way forward for cars like Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf. But Yoshikazu Tanaka, chief engineer of Toyota's hydrogen fuel-cell car Mirai, said that would guzzle so much energy at once as to defeat the purpose of the EV as an ecologically sound form of transportation.

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TheSteve - 4/16/2015 5:08:35 PM

+2 Boost

The same Toyota head engineer that cites EVs as being impractical today tells us that hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles are. Huh? Yes, hydrogen is extremely abundant, but:

(1) We haven't figured out a clean and cheap way to convert ambient hydrogen into a form that can be used by fuel cell vehicles

(2) Assuming that someday we figure out how to solve #1 with some sort of clean, cheap, mass production facilities, we know of no way to safely transport the massive quantities of liquid hydrogen gas (or super compressed hydrogen gas) to filling stations, and unload it off the transport vehicles and safely store it in the filling stations.

(3) Assuming that someday we solve #1 and #2, we don't have a national hydrogen filling station infrastructure. For those who are about to chime in regarding the smattering of existing hydrogen stations, they are more rare than hair on an egg. Consider them experimental endeavors as opposed to a scalable solution.

Someday, hydrogen vehicles might be feasible. Someday, personal fusion reactors might be feasible. Someday, EVs might be feasible for replacing your daily gas guzzler. Someday. That day is not today, for any of these technologies. But that's today. A decade from now, things might change.

vdiv - 4/17/2015 10:44:03 AM

0 Boost

Almost agree, almost.

Hydrogen is not abundant on our planet, water is. To get molecular hydrogen out as you say is not clean, cheap, nor energy-efficient. The energy used can easily power the EV fleet bypassing the rest of the hydrogen complexities.

Someday for EVs replacing your daily gas guzzler was over four years ago with the introduction of the Volt, Leaf, iMiEV, ActiveE, Roadster etc. The day EVs replaced your long distance cruiser was in 2013 when Tesla started deploying their supercharger network. Delivery trucks like Frito Lay's and FedEx electrics, EREV pickup trucks and vans, city buses, taxis are spreading world-wide.

Don't knock it 'til you flock it! ;)

MDarringer - 4/16/2015 10:13:40 PM

-3 Boost

And he is CORRECT

jtz7 - 4/20/2015 12:36:51 PM

-2 Boost

That Toyota EV and Honda Cross Tour hint side profiles. If the EV was a Hyundai that's what would have been said.