Toyota’s top scientist reiterates that the world lacks the resources to go all in on electric cars

Toyota Motor’s top scientist warned that transitioning to electric vehicles too quickly could lead drivers to hold on to old gas guzzlers and called for hybrids to be given a longer leash ahead of a Group of Seven leaders summit in Japan.

Subsidies and restrictions targeting combustion cars will make EVs attractive for customers who can afford them, but gas-electric vehicles remain a better fit for other consumers, Gill Pratt, Toyota’s chief scientist and chief executive officer of the Toyota Research Institute, told reporters in Hiroshima on Thursday.

It’s an oft-repeated argument from the world’s No. 1 carmaker: that the transition to fully electric vehicles will take longer than people expect, and that a multipronged approach that includes hybrids and other alternatives will reduce emissions faster in the meantime. Environmental groups have criticised Toyota for taking too long to go fully electric and letting Elon Musk’s Tesla and China’s BYD take the EV lead.

“Eventually, resource limitations will end, but for many years we will not have enough battery material and renewable recharging resources for a BEV-only solution,” Pratt said, referring to battery-electric vehicles.

“Battery materials and renewable charging infrastructure will eventually be plentiful,” he said. “But it will take decades for battery material mines, renewable-power generation facilities, transmission lines and seasonal energy-storage facilities to scale up.”