It seems as though the top brass at Toyota’s Indian arm, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), have had enough of the bashing hybrid technology has received from the government. The automaker has hit out at the current political dispensation for not only tagging hybrid cars as a luxury item but also for ignoring the eco-friendly nature of such cars. A few days ago, Shekar Viswanathan, vice-chairman and whole time director of TKM, claimed that country’s ambitious plan of aiming for 100 per cent electric vehicles (EVs) for the public transport and 40 per cent for the private sector, although bullish, was quite impractical. N Raja, senior vice-president of sales and marketing and director of the company, added that the manufacturer would soon ask the government to consider hybrid vehicles as a key part of the country’s drive towards electric vehicles by providing a number of facts to support the demand.
“We understand that all the cars will be electric by 2040, but till then hybrids will help in the transition to EVs,” said Raja. He further highlighted that the bulk of electricity produced in India (> 80 per cent) comes from burning coal. If the country were to produce more electricity to power all-electric cars, it would only result in more pollution, he said. “If you look at pollution factor, the hybrids stand much better than EVs. It is less for electrified hybrid vehicles,” Raja added while comparing the effective overall emissions from the two technologies.
