Toyota has no plans to launch electric cars in China, a new report finds. Earlier this year, the Japanese automaker announced that it would delay the launch of its next-generation plug-in hybrids due to safety concern with its lithium-ion batteries. Toyota is currently testing plug-in hybrid technology in France.
“In France, 80 percent of electricity is produced by nuclear stations so if electric cars replace fossil fuel cars then you have a clear reduction in the emission of CO2,” said Tatehito Ueda, a managing officer at Toyota Motor Corp. “But in China they make electricity by burning coal, so China is not the place for electric cars.”
Instead, Toyota will focus on reducing running resistance and improving powertrains in China for increased economy.
10/22, 9:40 AM
posted by:
RicardoHead
Well since Iran is pursuing peaceful nuclear technology, Toyota should be loading them up with electric cars, right?
Actually, if Toyota cared about the environment, they’d sell the electric cars in China because then all you’d have to do is get China to build nuclear reactors and that preciaous environment will then be safe.
10/22, 9:44 AM
posted by:
cardesigner5
yea right. china has not invested in nuclear technology. it is much cheaper solution for them to use coal powered station’s to reach there high energy demands so the country can develop further. you are so irrogant and narrowminded
10/22, 9:52 AM
posted by:
RicardoHead
No no no – that can’t be.
Al Gore said China is at the environmental forefront (no joke) and so it must be true because Al Gore said it and he won a Nobel so it must be true because Al Gore really deserved a Nobel so it must be true, not to be so irrogant (sic) or anything.
10/22, 9:58 AM
posted by:
HoosierHero
Either way it makes sense for Toyota to not build electric cars in China if they can’t be supported. Who would introduce a product that was doomed to fail from the beginning? Hmmm, sounds like common sense…
10/22, 10:19 AM
posted by:
CTS DRIVER
ok then if it is cheaper to burn fossil fuels for electricity and iran is full of fossil fuels then by default their atomic plants MUST be for weapons.
10/22, 11:01 AM
posted by:
HoosierHero
Duh! Dick Cheney told me so…
10/22, 11:24 AM
posted by:
autonut
It is cheaper to bomb (nuclear) Iran and China and sell then electric cars afterwards. The only problem, according to Gore, we will lose world leadership in fight for human rights and equality.
10/22, 11:46 AM
posted by:
SwerveEarly
Do Electric cars actually make you smarter, or do they make everyone else seem less enlightened, like hybrids do?
10/22, 11:50 AM
posted by:
injunraiv
Man, is Al Gore that scary to people that he needs to be brought up in every thread? WTF?
10/22, 12:41 PM
posted by:
SwerveEarly
Al Gores balls produce enough clean energy to power Tippers Margarita blender for up 10 Margis, while rolling around in there Hummer Limo getting 6MPG
10/22, 2:29 PM
posted by:
Get Real
According to Mr. Gore and others, China as a “developing nation” has privileged exemptions from ALL “global warming” rules.
Meanwhile the EPA forces us into more and more regulations.
China don’t need no stink’n electric cars.
“Complain all you want, we can pollute for free”
10/22, 3:11 PM
posted by:
LP640
i doubt the chinese would be interested in this. they’re probably working on a new way to spread bird flu
10/22, 8:48 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Uhm…who cares?!? Toy Ota still can’t engineer anything other than a glorified toaster.
10/22, 10:54 PM
posted by:
Commodore
Smart from a business prespective. The last thing China is worried about is pollution and like the article said, China is a huge coal burner.
The hybrid bull**** will/is working much better in Western Europe and US where people were way more liberal than traditional.
10/23, 6:09 AM
posted by:
jonmiles
injunraiv- I was thinking the same thing…
I have no experience making decisions on such a scale, but after seeing first hand just how bad china’s polution problem is (it made inner-city philadelphia smell downy-fresh by comparison), it seems that someone needs to give china a little shove in the right direction. Wouldn’t an abundance of electric cars create demand for cleaner energy? Further, even if they didn’t clean up their powerplants, considering there are ZERO emmissions regulations there now (or at least ones that are obeyed), wouldn’t electric cars make a huge impact anyway?
10/23, 9:38 AM
posted by:
CTS DRIVER
lp640, that was good, lmao hahahah
10/24, 2:21 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
Hu’s in china?