Paul Scott’s Toyota Boycott Fizzles
If you haven’t heard the calls from ardent battery electric vehicle (BEV) advocates to boycott Toyota, you’re not alone. Plug in America founder Paul Scott has been leading an effort to single out Toyota as an enemy of BEV adoption, but the tactic failed to get traction on the Internet, spinning its wheels before stalling under the weight of its own absurdity.
The virtually unknown boycott effort appears to have been catalyzed by an article that appeared in the New York Times titled, “Toyota Led on Clean Cars, Now Critics Say it Works to Delay Them”. The balanced article by Hiroko Tabuchi accurately contrasted the concerns of environmentalists about Toyota’s recent lobbying efforts with the thoughtful strategies that Toyota is actually pursuing to steadily decarbonize its global fleet. The reaction to Tabuchi’s article was not so evenhanded. When the New York Times smells smoke, liberal extremists see raging infernos, and the article galvanized the current effort to demonize Toyota. Paul Scott is convinced that BEV adoption is the one-and-only pathway for decarbonizing the transportation sector, and targeting a scapegoat advances his narrow agenda.
Measured concerns about Toyota’s lobbying resulted in a letter that was sent to Tetsuo Ogawa, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Toyota, encouraging the automaker to fully support President Joe Biden’s efforts to accelerate EV adoption. It also requested a meeting on or before September 24th to discuss Toyota’s troubling approach to pending U.S. legislation. It garnered the support of environmental heavy-hitters like the Center for Biological Diversity, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Sierra Club. It was also signed by organizations that advocate specifically for BEVs like Plug In America, Coltura, and the Electric Auto Association. A spokesperson from Plug In America said that Toyota has not responded to the request for a meeting.
The trending notion that Toyota is determined to derail the global electrification revolution is a bit of a stretch. Toyota continues to invest billions of dollars to develop battery technology, has taken out a staggeringly high number of battery related patents, and is considered a frontrunner in the race to market a superior BEV powered by solidstate batteries. Their legendary Prius continues to provide extraordinary climate benefits along with its growing selection of hybrids. Their Mirai fuel cell vehicle is demonstrating the feasibility of this promising powertrain as the world begins to appreciate the wide-ranging potential of green hydrogen. Toyota is admittedly late to the BEV game, but it is a mistake to portray their pokiness as self-serving hostility to BEVs. Their corporate strategy seeks to advance carbon neutrality by offering consumers a wide selection of superior green vehicles that includes state-of-the-art hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fuel cell vehicles, and battery electric vehicles. Toyota fully intends to market BEVs with increasing gusto as global charging infrastructures develop that are fed by adequately decarbonized grids. They rightly see their efficient hybrids as providing significant near term emission reductions, and they see fuels cells as a valuable emerging technology with unique advantages.
The choice of Toyota as a designated scapegoat seems especially odd. There are other automakers that have been environmentally irresponsible for decades, and there is little evidence that Toyota’s recent lobbying efforts are specifically designed to slow BEV adoption.