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IN a surprise report, climate think-tank organisation InfluenceMap has slammed the big Japanese car-makers Toyota, Nissan and Honda claiming they are the least prepared for a zero-emission vehicle transition compared with their global competitors.

By 2029, only 14 per cent of Toyota’s worldwide production is forecast to be full-electric vehicles, rising to 18 per cent for Honda and 22 per cent for Nissan, according to the study that was based on an examination of future production data from IHS Markit.

This compares with South Korea’s Hyundai, forecast to achieve 27 per cent EV production levels globally by 2029, as well as Ford and Volkswagen Group, at 36 per cent and 43 per cent respectively.

The data said that Japanese automakers have lagged behind global peers in rolling out electric cars and the country’s EV penetration rate is barely one per cent.

Honda has budgeted 5 trillion yen ($A50b) over the next decade to make cleaner cars. Subaru has said it will spend around 250 billion yen ($A2.68b) on EV battery capacity over the next five years.

Toyota, and the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association which is chaired by Toyota, meanwhile continues to promote hydrogen as one of the key solutions to carbon neutrality, along with EVs, the IHS Markit data shows.

Across all car-makers, hydrogen-powered vehicles are forecast to account for just 0.1 per cent of global production by 2029, the study found.

Toyota rolled out the bZ4X, its first mass-produced full-electric car, earlier this month.

Toyota bZ4X

InfluenceMap program manager Ben Youriev said: “The fact that Toyota and Nissan are the two lowest-scoring companies highlights the strong link between negative climate policy engagement and low levels of electric vehicle production forecasts.

“In Toyota’s case, it continues to strongly push combustion-engine powered hybrids – even in highly developed markets like Japan and the US – despite recent warnings from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists that electric vehicles powered by low-emission electricity offer the largest decarbonization potential for land-based transport on a life cycle basis.”

While Toyota appears slower than some of its peers in bringing EVs to the market, it has promised it will launch 30 EVs by 2030, fast-tracking its plans that previously announced 15 EVs by 2025.

It has also said it will sell 3.5 million EVs globally by 2030 and that Lexus would become an electric-only brand from 2035.

It has also upgraded its financial commitment in battery vehicle technology to 2 trillion yen ($A21b), up from its previous announcement of 1.5 trillion yen ($A16b).

Toyota was one of the first car-makers to embrace electrification in series production vehicles with the Prius range. It showed the alternatives to fossil-fuel vehicles and is seen as the impetus for development of companies including Tesla.

But while companies like Nissan and Volkswagen have been selling pure battery-electric vehicles, Toyota is yet to release a long-range electric vehicle.

By Neil Dowling

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