Toyota downplays value of plug-in cars
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
TRAVERSE CITY -- Plug-in electric cars aren't likely the panacea they're being made out to be by a public eager for alternatives to the traditional gasoline engine, a Toyota Motor Co. engineer said on Friday.
A number of serious hurdles stand between current technology and the reality of getting plug-ins on the road, Justin Ward, an engineer with Toyota's Advanced Technology Vehicles, said to an industry gathering at the annual Management Briefing Seminars. Even if the vehicles do make it to market, he said, data shows a battery-powered plug-in may be no more efficient in reducing carbon dioxide emissions than the gas-electric hybrids on the road today.
Ward's comments come amid reports that Toyota is delaying its next-generation electric car because of safety concerns, which Toyota didn't confirm. And they stood in contrast to one of General Motors Corp.'s biggest mantras of late: that plug-ins are coming soon and the vehicles will significantly reduce auto-related pollution and U.S. fuel consumption.
"Everyone wants these benefits now. But as with any type of prototype activity, there are challenges and the challenges are real," Ward said.
GM and Toyota are racing to be first to market with a vehicle that would use a powerful lithium-ion battery. Both companies are focusing on a number of different options, which include plug-in cars that can recharge batteries via a wall outlet and hybrids that mate battery power and gasoline engine.
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