Toyota has announced that it’s aiming to completely eliminate petrol and diesel vehicles from its range by 2050 in an effort to radically reduce emissions.
The marque promised to involve governments, affiliated companies and stakeholders in its ambitious push to reduce emissions from its vehicles by 90 per cent compared to 2010 averages.
In a markedly different direction to other companies, Toyota has said that it’s only interested in building hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as opposed to pure electrically-powered cars.
According to the marque, electric vehicles still take too long to recharge despite advances in battery technology, which restricts them to short-range travel in the absence of better infrastructure.
Annual sales of its fuel cell vehicles, like the new Toyota Mirai, will reach more than 30,000 by around 2020, the company predicts, which is 10 times its projected figure for 2017.
Likewise, it estimates that annual sales of its hybrid vehicles, like the top-selling Prius, will reach 1.5 million by 2020, with Toyota doubling its overall sales to roughly 15 million in that time.
Toyota’s senior managing officer, Kiyotaka Ise, said: “You may think 35 years is a long time, but for an automaker to envision all combustion engines as gone is pretty extraordinary.”
He acknowledged that while some petrol and diesel-engined cars would remain in less developed markets it would only be in small numbers, and stressed the inevitability of Toyota’s overall vision.
Furthering its announcement, Toyota also promised to cut carbon dioxide emissions from its production lines by about a third by developing manufacturing technology powered by hydrogen.
Aiming to introduce the hydrogen-powered tech by 2020, Toyota said it will also introduce wind power to its Tahara plant and promises to beef up recycling measures.
Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, known as the ‘Father of the Prius’, said the company was taking the environment seriously because it has “always tried to contribute to a better society”.