Japan Aims to Make All New Vehicles Electrified in 2050

July 25, 2018

Tokyo- A Japanese industry ministry panel set Tuesday the goal of having all new vehicles to be sold in Japan in 2050 powered by electric motors.

The move is aimed at keeping Japanese automakers' competitiveness strong by speeding up the development and promotion of cutting-edge environment technologies through government-business-academia cooperation.

The strategic council, comprising leaders of automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda, and experts in battery technologies, is concerned about possible weakening of the domestic industry's international competitiveness amid a quick shift in the global trend to eco-friendly vehicles, such as electric and hybrid vehicles.

Britain and France, for instance, have announced their policies of banning sales of gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2040 to combat global warming.

To keep up with the trend, the automobile council plans to curb by 2050 Japan's carbon dioxide emissions by 80 pct from the 2010 level, although it has yet to hammer out specific policy proposals, such as how to regulate production and imports of gasoline vehicles.

At the day's meeting, council members agreed to concentrate over the next five years on promoting battery technology innovations, tackling challenges through international cooperation and establishing social infrastructure, toward full promotion of motorized vehicles.

In particular, they underscored the importance of developing a large-capacity full solid-state battery as soon as possible under government-industry-academia collaboration.

The council also called on the Japanese government to seek policy cooperation from Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies for promoting electric vehicles at ministerial meetings it will chair next year. Jiji Press