Toyota Aims to Nearly Eliminate Gasoline Cars by 2050
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO — Toyota, under ambitious environmental targets, is aiming to sell hardly any regular gasoline vehicles by 2050, only hybrids and fuel cells, to radically reduce emissions.

The automaker promised to involve governments, affiliated companies and other "stakeholders" in its push to reduce average emissions from Toyota cars by 90 percent by about 2050, compared with 2010 levels.

Electric cars weren't part of their vision, outlined by top Toyota Motor Corp. officials at a Tokyo museum on Wednesday, striking a contrast with rivals such as Nissan Motor Co., which has banked on that zero-emissions technology.

Toyota's commitments come at a time when the auto industry has been shaken by a scandal at Germany's Volkswagen AG, in which it admitted it cheated on diesel emissions tests covering millions of cars.

Toyota projected its annual sales of fuel cell vehicles will reach more than 30,000 by about 2020, which is 10 times its projected figure for 2017.

Fuel cells run on hydrogen and are zero-emissions. Toyota's Mirai fuel cell went on sale late last year. Toyota has received 1,500 orders for the Mirai in Japan, and it just went on sale in the U.S. and Europe.

Annual sales of hybrid vehicles will reach 1.5 million and by 2020 Toyota would have sold 15 million hybrids, nearly twice what it has sold so far around the world, it said.

Hybrids switch back and forth between a gasoline engine and an electric motor to deliver an efficient ride.

The Toyota Prius, which went on sale in 1997, is the top-selling hybrid, with about 4 million sold globally so far. Toyota is promising to develop a hybrid version in every category, including usually gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles, as well as luxury models.

"You may think 35 years is a long time," Senior Managing Officer Kiyotaka Ise told reporters. "But for an automaker to envision all combustion engines as gone is pretty extraordinary."

Ise acknowledged some gasoline engine cars would remain in less developed markets, but only in small numbers.

He and other Toyota officials insisted on the inevitability of their overall vision, stressing that the problems of global warming and environmental destruction made a move toward a hydrogen-based society a necessity.

Experts agree more has to be done to curtail global warming and pollution, and nations are increasingly tightening emissions standards.

But they are divided on whether all gasoline engines will disappear, or they'll stay on, thanks to greener internal combustion engines, as well as the arrival of clean diesel technology.

Tatsuo Yoshida, senior analyst at Barclays Securities Japan in Tokyo, said Toyota's goals weren't far-fetched.

"The internal combustion engine is developing and metamorphosing into hybrids," he said. "Toyota has been working on this technology for a long time. When officials speak out like this, it means they are 120 percent confident this is their scenario."

As part of its environmental vision, Toyota also promised to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from production lines during manufacturing in 2030 to about a third of 2001 levels.

Toyota said it will develop manufacturing technology that uses hydrogen, and will use wind power at its Tahara plant, both by 2020. It also promised to beef up various recycling measures, including developing ways to build vehicles from recycled ones.

When asked why Toyota remained so cautious on electric vehicles, they said they take too long to recharge, despite battery innovations that have made them smaller, restricting them for short-range travel in cities.

Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, known as the "father of the Prius," said the company was taking the environment seriously because it has always tried to contribute to a better society.

"We have the same principles since our founding," he said, showing on stage a photo of Sakichi Toyoda, the Toyota founder's father, who invented a textile loom in 1891. "That is Toyota's DNA."

豐田拚了 2050前停賣純汽油車

日本豐田汽車14日宣布極具雄心的環保願景，將在2050年前停止販售純汽油引擎車款，只出產油電混合車或燃料電池車，以大幅減少碳排放量。

美聯社報導，豐田允諾與多國政府、協力廠商和其他「股東」共同合作，力推豐田汽車的碳排放量在2050年前，達到較2010年少90%的目標。

全球汽車業目前正籠罩在德國福斯柴油車廢氣排放造假醜聞，豐田汽車選在此時宣布這個目標，凸顯其環保政策。

燃料電池燃燒氫氣，達到零碳排放目的。豐田氫燃料電池車Mirai去年底上市，在日本已接下1500百輛的訂單，Mirai最近在歐美上市。豐田預估，燃料電池車年銷量2020年將超過3萬輛，為2017年估計年銷量的10倍。

豐田表示，該廠牌油電混合車目前全球年銷量已達150萬輛，截至2020年，累積銷售量可望達到一1500萬輛，是油電車累積至今銷量的兩倍。油電混合系統在汽油引擎和電動馬達之間轉換，以達最佳油耗效能。

1997年上市的Prius，是目前銷量最好的豐田油電車，在全球已熱銷400萬輛。豐田允諾，未來將推出各種油電車，包括目前很耗油的休旅車和豪華車都會推出油電車款。

豐田資深主管伊勢清貴說：「你可能覺得35年很久，但對汽車製造者而言，在這段時間內要讓所有傳統內燃機引擎消失，是非常驚人的。」

伊勢和豐田其他主管一致認為，這條路無可避免。不過，伊勢也坦承，在一些低度發展市場，還是會有少部分汽油引擎車。

另外，豐田官員透露，純電動車不是豐田願景的一部分，因為充電時間太長且每次能開的里程受限。

豐田主要對手「日產汽車」則致力發展電動車，希望達到零排放目標。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/10/14/world/asia/ap-as-japan-toyota.html

2015-10-15．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯陳韻涵