‘Toyota Kirloskar Motor is focussing on hybrid vehicles’
MUMBAI: Toyota Kirloskar Motor will bring electric vehicles to India in future, but at the moment it is focussing on hybrid vehicles keeping in mind the objective of meeting holistic carbon reduction, said vice chairman Vikram Kirloskar.
The company, which on Friday unveiled Innova Hycross, the new hybrid version of the company’s popular multi-purpose vehicle Innova, also expects full capacity utilisation at its two manufacturing units in Bengaluru by the middle of next year.
“I think the country’s objective is to reduce carbon (emission). You have to look at it holistically and (on a) scientific basis and that’s what we are doing,” he said, when asked about Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s strategy of focussing on hybrids at a time when electric vehicles (EVs) have started gaining traction in India.
Kirloskar argued that considering the current low level of renewable energy sources in India, EVs do not necessarily serve the purpose of reducing carbon emissions.
He cited a recent study done by the Nature magazine which measured the end-to-end emission on the basis of the source of power in India and said, “The only place where as per that ( study) the electric car has lower carbon emission than a pure ICE (internal combustion engine) is in the North East where it’s hydropower. Nowhere else does it reduce carbon.”
Asked if it meant Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) will not bring EVs to India in the near future, Kirloskar said, “If it reduces the carbon content, if the renewable electricity in India starts getting at least more than 50-60% and certainly it will be all electric... we may bring earlier also.”
Total fossil fuel accounts for 57.9% of India’s installed power generation capacity and nonfossil fuel at 42.1% as on September 30, 2022, according to government data.
On whether Toyota has started working on the full electrics for the Indian market, Kirloskar said, “You’ll see soon whenever we have a car.”
Toyota Kirloskar Motor is “focusing a lot on sustainability” and like the company’s newly launched Urban Cruiser Hyryder, the Innova Hycross is also “going to be a very green car”, according to Kirloskar.