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| Hybrid Blues: China Policies Force Toyota Into Electric U-Turn | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 19 2017, 11:06 AM (335 Views) | |
| Demagogue | Apr 19 2017, 11:06 AM Post #1 |
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http://www.oann.com/hybrid-blues-china-policies-force-toyota-into-electric-u-turn/ April 19, 2017 By Norihiko Shirouzu SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The automotive industry’s seemingly inexorable drive towards electric cars – and especially Chinese polices pushing new energy vehicles – has forced Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, the world’s No.2 automaker by sales, into what one executive calls an “agonizing” strategy U-turn. Until recently, Toyota was one of the industry’s major hold-outs against full electrification, and planned to more or less skip all-electric battery cars and turn instead to hydrogen as a mainstream alternative to gasoline-fueled cars. In 2013, Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, father of the gasoline-electric hybrid Prius, told Reuters the hydrogen car was a “practical alternative” to the traditional combustion engine, and if there was any use for the electric vehicle (EV),it was “only as a neighborhood errands car”. Fast-forward to late last year, and Toyota said it had begun developing a long-range all-electric battery car, which industry experts say should hit the market around 2020. The Japanese firm has put its president, Akio Toyoda, in charge of a new unit called the EV Business Planning Department. One Toyota executive, who did not want to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the strategy about-turn was “agonizing” and “heart-wrenching”. |
| People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do them harm. | |
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| clone | Apr 19 2017, 11:10 AM Post #2 |
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Director @ Center for Advanced Memetic Warfare
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Only liberals can choose not to go down the road to widespread, systematic violence. | |
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| Demagogue | Apr 19 2017, 11:25 AM Post #3 |
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Well, in this case Toyota could have chosen not to sell cars in China. It is kind of interesting that Toyota had made a corporate decision to go with hydrogen fuel cells instead of all electric vehicles. They wanted to use their hybrids to bridge the gap until the hydrogen option was more established but most of their hybrids are not plug in hybrids and therefor do not qualify as electric under China's rules. China actually set some pretty aggressive standards.
With their population though they probably need to do this. You simply can not have the same percentage of people driving gasoline vehicles that we have here in the US in a country with a population over 1.1 billion. This is why China has invested so much in mass transportation but now that the country is starting to develop a middle class these people are going to want cars and China has decided that a good percentage of them need to be electric. The question I have is, "Does their grid have enough capacity in it to charge all these electric vehicles?. It will be interesting to watch. |
| People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do them harm. | |
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| estonianman | Apr 19 2017, 11:42 AM Post #4 |
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Hydrogen is a silly fuel source for cars because of it volatility and lack of energy density. Yes, they emit water vapor as a by-product, no one gives a feck about their personal emissions. Give me the acceleration of an electric car without an expensive platinum cathode to replace every 3 years. |
| MEEK AND MILD | |
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| Demagogue | Apr 19 2017, 11:44 AM Post #5 |
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Hydrogen done right is a good alternative. There are lots of things I would call the engineering and planning folks at Toyota but silly is not one of them. |
| People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do them harm. | |
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| Demagogue | Apr 19 2017, 11:47 AM Post #6 |
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One thing you have to remember about the China push to get people into electrics, the rare earth elements needed in the batteries and other electronics for these vehicles are mined in China and the batteries can be recycled in china. China imports oil and gas but they have lots of coal for their power plants. This policy is actually good for China from a long term strategic sense. If they can force the world's manufacturers to build more battery cars then it actually helps China's economy even if the batteries are not built in China. It also helps make other countries dependent on a Chinese export rather than making China dependent on something they import. Edited by Demagogue, Apr 19 2017, 11:49 AM.
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| People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do them harm. | |
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| estonianman | Apr 19 2017, 11:57 AM Post #7 |
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The Toyota Mirai is an engineering marvel - but that doesn't mean that it is marketable. There is no infrastructure to support hydrogen, the list of issues is endless. |
| MEEK AND MILD | |
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| Demagogue | Apr 19 2017, 12:09 PM Post #8 |
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The infrastructure to support hydrogen is not significantly more difficult to deploy than the infrastructure to support electrics. In fact it is similar to the infrastructure used for CNG vehicles which is something already in place in some large cities. So long as you own your own home then a plug in electric is a fairly straight forward option but if you own or rent an apartment above the first floor it might be a bit of a challenge. I always thought that was going to be the interesting part for electric vehicles sales, selling these things to young people who don't own a home. How do they charge them? Most manufacturers are not like Tesla where there are free charging stations across the nation. |
| People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do them harm. | |
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| estonianman | Apr 19 2017, 12:23 PM Post #9 |
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Perhaps the business of parking spots as real estate might become more widespread.
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| MEEK AND MILD | |
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| clone | Apr 19 2017, 12:25 PM Post #10 |
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Director @ Center for Advanced Memetic Warfare
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This is exactly what I was thinking....they can corner the rare earth market... The problem with hydrogen is the same problem big medicine has with ozone therapy....too easy to get..... |
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Only liberals can choose not to go down the road to widespread, systematic violence. | |
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| Drudge X | Apr 19 2017, 05:47 PM Post #11 |
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Bs policy. This is purely payback kind of policy against Japan for their alliance with the US, the Senkakus, and South China Sea. China doesn't give two f**** about its people let alone "caring" for the environment. |
| Kate Steinle was separated from her family permanently but leftists didn't seem to mind. | |
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| Drudge X | Apr 19 2017, 05:51 PM Post #12 |
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That used to be the case but not anymore http://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/04/japan-loosens-chinas-grip-on-rare-earths-supplies.html |
| Kate Steinle was separated from her family permanently but leftists didn't seem to mind. | |
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