Mobility Expert Matt MacLeod is charged about electrified car options

Q: Can you explain - what is an electric vehicle? What are the different types?

A: Electric vehicles actually only refers to just one side of this technology. At Toyota, we focus on “electrified vehicles”. For instance you have Hybrids. We’ve been working with Hybrids for ages now, with our first Hybrid (the Prius) launching in Australia in 2001. That’s 20 years ago!

Q: Can you summarise the Hybrid technology?

A: Basically, with a Hybrid you still have an internal conventional combustion engine but you introduce a battery and electric motor to increase your efficiency, reduce emissions and the amount of fuel you use. Hybrids don’t need to be charged, the battery uses the combustion energy to recharge as you drive so there’s no need to plug them in.

Q: Are there plug-in Hybrid Toyota vehicles? What’s the difference?

A: Yes but not in Australia. That is the next step towards lower emissions, looking at using less of the combustion engine with a bigger battery. That's a plug-in hybrid. The bigger battery has more capacity to run off pure electricity. You plug into a wall or a charger point at home, meaning you can go further on pure electric power.

Q: What about cars without a petrol engine at all?

A: Then you go to pure electric vehicles. That can be a battery-powered Electric Vehicle (BEV) or hydrogen-powered Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV), like the Toyota Mirai.

BEV vehicles are the same as Hybrid but have no combustion energy. They can have 100 watt batteries that weigh up to 500-600kg. That’s why some of these EV vehicles weigh over 2000 kg. Pretty heavy! There’s advantages. You can charge from your house and they generally offer exceptional performance. However, recharging can take up to 15 hours depending on what type of charger you have installed at home.

Q: So, why have Toyota Australia invested in hydrogen-powered cars?

A: Fuel cell electricity is this really cool technology that not a lot of people know about yet. It’s our job here at Toyota to share, educate and create advocates for it so we can bring in these types of products and other low and zero emissions vehicles.

Hydrogen is one of the technologies that Toyota sees playing a really important role in lowering vehicle emissions. It creates zero emissions – well actually, it creates one – water!

The other advantage of Fuel Cell Electric is the powertrains are lighter and you get a really fast refuel. We can refuel at our Mirai station here in Altona in around 3-5 minutes from empty and get a range of around 650 kms per tank. The challenge is you need special refuelling infrastructure.

Q: How can we overcome that challenge?

A: I’m sick of using the chicken and egg metaphor but – we need to get to the point where we are working collaboratively with infrastructure providers, government and industry and they’re working collaboratively with us as the vehicle manufacturer.

So, they can say, “we’re putting a hydrogen refuelling station here – can you make sure there’s some cars available?” and on the flipside, we can see where there’s demand and say, “can you support us by making the infrastructure available here?”

Q: How do Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) use Hydrogen?

A: So, hydrogen’s got a really high energy density by mass. That means, in one cubic metre of hydrogen you’ve got a lot more energy compared to lithium ion batteries. Petrol also has high energy so we’re looking at a type of electric vehicle that stands up to traditional fuel types.

The cool thing is, hydrogen is stored as gas inside the car at a really high pressure – so you can store a lot in there. That’s used to convert to electricity inside the actual car, expelling only water.

Q: Do you think FCEV will become the dominant electric vehicle technology?

A: There’s no winners or losers here – some technologies will just be used more than others.

People currently drive petrol, diesel, hybrid, fully electric. They drive hatchbacks, sedans, SUVs, vans, people movers, utes and commercial vehicles. They drive them for all different reasons. Everyone’s lifestyle is different, our role isn’t to tell people what type of electric vehicle they’ll be driving. It’s to give people options to understand what’s best suited to them.

It’s not a race to have the most electric vehicles on the market, it’s about reducing emissions and that’s what we’re focused on at Toyota.

Q: Are Australians embracing electric vehicle technology yet?

A: You’ll hear a lot of noise about how there’s slow uptake and Australia isn’t moving fast on electric. Our market is completely different from other markets around the world.

Quite frankly, if you look at it purely from a fully electric battery perspective, our uptake is slow. But then look at Hybrid. When the Prius first came out in October 2001, there were only a handful of Hybrid cars bought in Australia. Last year, we sold almost 55,000 Hybrids. A bucketload. This transition is happening.

I don’t know of any Australian that would drive a more polluting vehicle if they had the choice – but that choice is based on their own personal requirements. It depends on the lifestyle they lead and the type of vehicles they want. It depends on their confidence in certain technologies. And, of course, it depends on the price point.

Q: What should Aussies expect next from Toyota?

A: More hybrids, more options. Watch this space! There’s more hybrid models coming out this year. Kluger’s coming. Lexus has an EV launching later this year. There’s an announcement happening at the Shanghai Motor Show*. A lot to get excited about.

Thanks for joining us Matt!

*On that last note – read more about the Shanghai Motor Show announcement with a new line of electrified vehicles, including a battery-powered BEV vehicle!

The bZ4X Concept vehicle (bZ stands for ‘Beyond Zero’) will be coming to Australia at a later date, furthering our commitment to reducing carbon emissions with electrification across our range. We’re buzzing!