Toyota Claims Electric Cars Are Not Sustainable

Toyota is well known for its disdain for pure-electric cars, having released numerous ads and statements criticizing the short ranges and long charging times of battery-electric vehicles. The company has been in a feud with Tesla over its hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, with Elon Musk publicly calling the technology “bullsh*t” and “fool cells” when asked if it poses a threat to battery-electric vehicles.

Toyota will be debuting its Mirai fuel cell car in the U.S. this year, and the automaker is being proactive about countering negative perceptions with its release of a video called “Fueled By Bullsh*t,” which uses a play on Musk’s criticism to show how animal and human waste can power a car.

The video was directed by Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me fame, and was produced by Toyota as part of an online video series called “Fueled by Everything.” The automaker is making a massive effort to inform the public about the ways that hydrogen can be used as a fuel. However, the company is likely to have significant problems when trying to convince alternative fuel proponents that hydrogen cars are the greener choice for the future.

Many critics of the technology say that the energy that is required to extract pure hydrogen from natural gas is excessive for the benefits that the fuel would provide. However, Toyota is focusing on the potential of its new vehicle to derive power from cow, or human, waste. The concept is that technology that operates a vehicle from highly available and undesired materials is the most ecologically sound option that could be possible.

Clearly, Toyota and its critics differ massively in their opinions of this technology.

Yoshikazu Tanaka, the chief engineer for the Mirai fuel cell car, says that battery-electric cars are not a sustainable solution as they will not work in large quantities. He claims that with too many cars charging up, the power grid will be overloaded, which will cause major problems for households and businesses. On the other side, proponents of battery-electric vehicles say that rapid battery charging technology will counter this problem. But Tanaka says that this won’t solve the issue, as he feels that even if an owner can charge up an electric car in twelve minutes, it would probably be “using up electricity required to power 1,000 houses.”

Toyota is a very powerful force in the auto industry, but the company is facing significant resistance from fans of electric cars as it pushes its hydrogen vehicles such as the Mirai. Certainly, Toyota has a compelling reason to fight this battle, as the company has chosen to pass over pure electric cars in favor of fuel cell vehicles running on hydrogen.

One thing that’s clear is that hydrogen infrastructure is far more complex and costly to install than DC quick-charging stations, which is one of many hurdles that Toyota faces when trying to convince the public and the auto industry that its hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the way of the future. Currently, there are less than 50 public hydrogen fueling stations operating in the U.S., in comparison to tens of thousands of electric-car charging stations.

Regardless, Toyota appears to be convinced the Mirai will have a big impact on the auto industry, as its original Prius hybrid did. It’s therefore no surprise the company is continuing its critique of electric cars, as they clearly have the potential to threaten the positioning of the automaker’s technology.