Peach Tree Times

The United States, including Georgia, isn't ready to fully adopt electric vehicles (EVs), and hybrids continue to be a better alternative for the near term, a high-ranking Toyota executive said in a Wall Street Journal story last week.

High EV prices and a small charging infrastructure are holding the market back, Jack Hollis, executive vice president of sales at Toyota Motor North America said during "a virtual event with journalists," the Journal reported in its news story.

"As much as you want to talk about EVs, the marketplace isn't mature enough," Hollis said.

Jack Hollis, executive vice president for sales at Toyota Motor North America. | pressroom.toyota.com/

Hollis also referred to increasingly more expensive raw materials, including lithium, cobalt and other crucial battery inputs that EVs require, which necessarily will lead to even more expensive all-electric vehicles. The current market for EVs is attracting only early adopters to embrace battery-powered vehicles.

"I don't think the market is ready for what the rhetoric is saying," Hollis said.

Hollis' observations followed Toyota's introduction last year of three EVs for the U.S. market and the automaker's announcement that Toyota and Lexus models worldwide "will have an electrified option" by 2025.

Hollis isn't alone in his observations about a weak EV market. Consumer Reports noted last month that buyers are interested in EVs but that most six in 10 surveyed are holding back because of too few charging stations and other problems. The Consumer Reports survey, based on 8,027 interviews, also found that more than half cited EVs' limited travel range on a single charge as a reason they decided against an EV purchase.

Current electric vehicles can travel an average of 250 miles on a single charge, according to University of California Davis EV Research Center.

There are 3,934 EV charging stations in Georgia, according to PlugShare.com.

The Consumer Reports survey also found that 63% of those surveyed said they would not purchase an electric vehicle today, with more than half of that number (58%) saying high EV prices are holding them back.

The Wall Street Journal reported in its news story that Toyota, like other automakers, has thrown its support behind EV technology. Toyota announced last year it will produce 3.5 million electric vehicles per year by 2030.

Hollis said he believes EV adoption will take off in the future, which is why Toyota needs to be prepared for the transition. However, hybrid models are a better near-term solution for buyers.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden this month, provides a $7,500 tax credit for buyers of new all-electric vehicles. However, tax credit comes with "price and income restrictions" that many will find onerous, said Seth Goldstein, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, in a CNBC news story earlier this month.