Toyota is known for its antagonistic stance toward electric vehicles but doesn't often elaborate on that position. However, the automaker's top technical mind spoke at length on the topic in an interview this month with Autocar. He says EVs aren't the end-all solution for transportation and that we have to be clearer about the social and environmental problems associated with shoving everyone into electric cars.Gill Pratt is chief scientist at Toyota and CEO of the Toyota Research Institute with impressive titles and an impressive resume. Among other posts, he was an associate professor at MIT and was once a computing expert for DARPA. Consistent with decades of scientific findings, Pratt acknowledges the "incredibly serious issue" of climate change and advocates for doing everything within our power to head it off, then reverse it. The role of EVs, however, is one he says has too much "hype" and closing our minds to other technological solutions.
Read Article