Toyota’s Hybrids Fall Short of a Fully Electric Future
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Toyota Motor Corp. unveiled a new model of its Prius in an announcement streamed late last night, doubling down on including an internal combustion engine in the new model. In early November, Public Citizen, along with 16 other organizations, called on Toyota to transition its full lineup of vehicles to be fully electric by 2030 in the U.S. East Peterson-Trujillo, clean vehicles campaigner at Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“The new Prius model asks: What if we took the look of a Tesla, but instead made it pollute with an internal combustion engine? The climate crisis demands real actions to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Despite over a decade of record setting global temperatures, Toyota’s new Prius missed an opportunity to take a fully-electric step toward the future.
“Toyota’s embrace of the look of an EV, while fully clinging to decades-old hybrid technology, is a metaphor for the window dressing of Toyota’s EV strategy. This ‘hybrid reborn’ relies on a combustion engine, connected to a gas tank, further polluting our communities and atmosphere. A fully electric future demands that Toyota, one of the largest global auto manufacturers, lead the global transition to 100% zero emission vehicles.”