Toyota hates BEV's b/c no demand? Sign this petition to them

Please sign this petition to Toyota asking them to build pure EV's with Quick or supercharging capability. Toyota is claiming that nobody is asking them to build EVs and that is a bold faced lie. 2500 have bought or leased their amazing Rav4 EV that has a critical problem, no fast charging option like the Leaf has. They built an EV that everyone loves except they sabotoged it by not adding quick charging and only sold it in CA. They are going to build 250 hydrogen range extended EV compliance cars over the next 5 years to lease only in CA. Nobody but big oil and gas wants this because they can make hydrogen from oil and gas.

Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/toyota-motor-company-build-electric-cars" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For more info, check out inside EVs here:
http://insideevs.com/petitioning-toyota-build-electric-vehicles/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think they are right. EV sales are rubbish. People are consciously NOT choosing to buy EVs for perfectly logical and sound reasons.

Things might change, but the volumes at the moment are a joke, and what there is is propped up by subsidies and loss-making market entrants.

Once Leaf is selling in sound numbers, comparable with its other models, without subsidisation and making a profit for Nissan, then you can say otherwise.

If Toyota are wrong then they'll lose out against their competition. If they are right then they will remain more strongly profitable. I guess you'll have to watch the share price to know which is which.

Signed it.
If Toyota built a BEV I would buy it. So for now it's Ford or Nissan. Tesla is nice but too much $$, same for BMW.
Went and drove the Mercedes, not that impressed and it's a LOT of $$ too.

Right now it's a toss for Leaf or FFE. The former has popularity going for it, a known quantity. The latter is a nicer car but unknown if it's gonna be around for even the duration of a lease.

If I could find a low-mile early Leaf with full bars at a good price (at or under $12K) I'd likely buy it. Otherwise a new lease is making more sense.

IMO the Prius sucks. Their plugin doesn't have enough range. Not a fan of Volt either. I'd really rather have a BEV. JMHO.

I signed it. If the Scion iQ EV had 90-100 miles range, it would great. If the Prius Plugin had 50 miles EV range, that would be great. If Toyota applied their aerodynamic design to a 5 seat design, I'll bet they could build a 150-200 mile range car, and sell it for $35K or less. Low drag means longer range on a smaller battery, and that means lower cost.

Toyota is clearly wrong about demand, but I don't particularly like Toyota vehicles and am fine with them not trying to make a BEV. Hopefully their loss could be someone else's gain. I like the LEAF and am fond of the way german cars drive, i.e. VW, BMW, Mercedes. I'm looking forward to the Mistubishi Outlander PHEV or the supposed Chrysler Town and Country PHEV. Waiting for any BEV with improved range. Most likely the upgraded LEAF. Always waiting for Tesla 3, but that wait keeps looking longer every day.

Toyota is attacking electrics because they want to create interest in hydrogen. Compliance mandated electric cars are over. Now it's only about EVs can succeed in the free market, and what new carrot you can dangle in front of the politicians and bureaucrats to get them to hand over the money and not interfere with their big profit generators- ICE cars and trucks. Hydrogen was that carrot when the EVs were killed last time. It's the same carrot today.

Bush said:

There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once.... shame on — shame on you... Fool me — you can't get fooled again.

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No need to sign a petition. I'll vote with my wallet.

I think some oil money paid them to say that "nobody asked" bs.

While the 'nobody asked us' quote was stupid, it does reflect a reality in the U.S. that current BEVs have a limited market potential. OTOH, the repetitive claims that 'Toyota hates BEVs' and/or batteries is pure hyperbole, as a couple of examples from the past week or so show:

Toyota working with Brookhaven National Lab on investigation of cathodes for Mg-ion batteries

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http://www.greencarcongress.com/2014/11/toyota-working-with-brookhaven-national-lab-on-investigation-of-cathodes-for-mg-ion-batteries.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Toyota to test expansion of EV and PHV charging infrastructure in Japan

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http://www.greencarcongress.com/2014/10/20141031-toyota.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And then there's their continuing work on solid-state batteries, as represented by this article from June:

Toyota working on all-solid-state batteries as mid-term advanced battery solution; prototype cell with 400 Wh/L

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http://www.greencarcongress.com/2014/06/20140612-toyota.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As that article mentions, Toyota sees solid-state Li-ion batteries as a mid-term improvement on the way to Li-air, which they are also working on.
For a company that supposedly 'hates' BEVs and/or batteries, they sure are devoting a lot of time, effort and money to improving them and/or their infrastructure.

Kubel has it right. As for whether or not Toyota "hates" BEVs, I think that's semantics. They don't want to build any more of them than necessary to meet government mandates, and whether this involves negative emotion or just their business model isn't all that relevant. The Prius PHEV is great car that could have a 50 mile EV range, but that might make it too popular, so they keep its appeal limited. The RAV-4 EV is being discontinued, isn't it? I think a petition will only help if a million people sign it, and in America that won't happen.

the reality of the USA is that Tesla has a $30billion market cap.
and $230million in hard cash as deposits.

I bet Tesla holds more cash from deposits from its customers than Toyota's dealers hold cash from deposits from Toyota consumers.

Still think the thing is ridiculous. So you think a 1,000 strong petition would be enough to convince Toyota to develop a loss-making car like the Leaf?

Development costs alone for mass produced cars these days is 0.5 to $1 billion. So each car would have to sell for $1 million before production costs are calculated.

They have a Rav EV on the back of Tesla mechanicals. If they could make a profit from selling it then why is it not being sold elsewhere in the world? That would be the first step, surely?

Why would they limit production if there was money to be made from making more for sale? When they think they can make money on BEV, they'll make them. 1,000 enthusiasts asking to do it earlier isn't going to change that.

I guess it maintains awareness of BEVs, but it won't serve the direct purpose it states is its aim.

In the auto industry the norm has been to introduce the newest, most up to date advances in technology via the highest end vehicles a company built and sold. this has not been the case for EVs. for whatever reason, be it government intervention in the process or a lack of commitment from the industry the majority of the EVs sold in the US are based on the lowest end vehicles offered by a manufacturer, for example the LEAF is essentially a Versa, a car at almost the bottom of the product line for nissan. time and time again over many decades the US public has rejected the small, ill equipped econo boxes that were offered to them. Until more Teslas and similar higher end cars gain wider acceptance by the masses I am afraid that the only conclusion is that the EVs will remain only a niche segment of the US auto market.