On April 19, 2024, Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. launched its roadshow “Go Electrified in Cebu” at Ayala Center Cebu. The household name in the automotive industry showcased its latest lineup of electrified vehicles to Cebuanos, featuring the Camry, Corolla Altis GR-S, Corolla Cross V and Corolla Cross GR-S.
Offering a diverse range of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), Toyota reaffirms its commitment to sustainable mobility and carbon neutrality, inviting all to join the journey towards a greener future.
Following the festivities, media guests and representatives of Toyota Motors Philippines had lunch together at Tavolata, during which I had the opportunity to chat with Elvin Luciano, vice president for marketing services. Luciano kindly shared some of his thoughts about HEVs’ place in our country.
“It’s a step towards achieving zero or even negative carbon emissions. It allows us to start decarbonization today compared to waiting for the infrastructure to be ready,” Luciano said.
A hybrid electric vehicle, as the name suggests, is not a fully electric vehicle. Instead, it utilizes a combination of an internal combustion engine (usually gasoline) and one or more electric motors to propel the vehicle. HEVs cannot be plugged in to charge their batteries. Instead, they generate electricity through regenerative braking and from the internal combustion engine. The electric motor assists the engine during acceleration and low-speed driving, which helps improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions compared to traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.
“Full electrification is a goal for Toyota. Technology, primarily referring to our power source, is one of the major concerns,” said Luciano. “If we start going fully electric today and then our users all plug in to our power source using fossil fuel as our main power source, it would undermine the goal of clean energy. Elsewhere in the world, we have fully electric vehicles like the Toyota bZ — a pure BEV (battery electric vehicle) from Toyota — specifically in countries that already have access to clean power sources.”
Luciano added how the company is “lucky” to have a “visionary leader” in their chairman, Akio Toyota.
“He has been actively espousing this idea of the multi-pathway approach — no single powertrain or technology to solve our carbon neutrality efforts but a combination of solutions and technologies that we adopt according to the needs of certain countries or markets.”
Cheers to a greener future, Toyota!