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Saturday, December 26th, 2020

Japan to Phase Out Gasoline-Powered Cars, Bucking Toyota Chief

Author:     Peter Landers and Chieko Tsuneoka
Source:     The Wall Street Journal
Publication Date:     Dec. 25, 2020 3:06 pm ET
 Link: Japan to Phase Out Gasoline-Powered Cars, Bucking Toyota Chief
Stephan:   The conversion to electric vehicles is not going to be painless or easy in any country, as this story from Japan illustrates. Car companies like Toyota are resisting the conversion, at least at the scale and speed the Japanese government wants. In the United States which, thanks to Trump, has no national program for the conversion out of the carbon era and is woefully behind what is already happening in Europe and Asia, the Biden administration is going to have to immediately plan for and set up a nationwide program, or the United States will become a hodgepodge of state programs. California leads the way, but the Red value states seem to have hardly begun to think about this transition.

TOKYO—Japan said it planned to stop the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by the mid-2030s, bucking criticism by Toyota Motor Corp.’s chief that a rapid shift to electric vehicles could cripple the car industry.

The plan released Friday followed similar moves by the state of California and major European nations, but it has faced resistance from auto executives in a country that still makes millions of cars annually that run solely on gasoline engines.

Japan would still permit the sale of hybrid gas-electric cars after 2035 under the plan. Many models from Japan’s top car makers—Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. —come in both traditional and hybrid versions.Power ShiftMost cars sold in Japan still have traditionalgasoline engines.Japan vehicle sales in millions, 2019Source: Japan Automobile ManufacturersAssociationNote: Excludes minicars2.551.420.1650.037GasolineHybridClean dieselElectric car/plug-in hybrid/fuel cell

Earlier this month, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said that if Japan banned gasoline-powered cars and moved to electric vehicles too hastily, “the current business model of the car industry is going to collapse.” He was speaking on behalf of Japanese auto makers in his role as head of a local […]

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1 Comment

  1. Rev. Dean on Sunday, December 27, 2020 at 5:59 am

    It would be much better if they would start selling them in 2021, not the 2030’s. By then, it may be too late to save our planet from global warming. Global warming needs to be tackled now, not later.