Toyota Motor Company is skeptical of the numerous automakers striving to electrify their entire model ranges, Bloomberg reports quoting Gill Pratt, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of the Toyota Research Institute.
According to Pratt, the transition to all-electric locomotion is going to take much more time than everyone in the industry expected. The main reason is that there are not enough mining capacities worldwide to extract the resources required in all-electric powertrains. Another pressing concern is the lack of infrastructure compounded by the impossibility of its rapid development.
Per Pratt, all these limitations can be overcome with time, but, as long as pure battery-electric cars are concerned, the lack of resources will drag on for decades to come. Opting for a more complex and sophisticated approach to electrification – in particular, developing superior hybrid and fuel-cell powertrains, will both ease the transition for most automakers and lessen the environmental impact.