The Truth About the New Camry

Toyota's FOAD to EV's

Let’s give another warm welcome to Robert Farago, the Original Gangster. Like what you’re reading here? There’s a lot more of it at Robert’s Substack — jb

My old man bought the first Lexus hybrid SUV. The steering sucked, the brakes were terrible and the engine sounded like it wanted to commit suicide. Not that it could. It was a Toyota. An automaker that focuses on oh what a feeling reliability, rather than, say, saving the planet.

Toyota’s new hybrid-only Camry reflects the Japanese automaker’s priorities. It’s a four-wheeled shot across the bow of self-righteous environmentalists (as if there’s an any other kind) and vote-seeking Armageddonistas. Fuck your feelings, San. We sell clean-running cars that people want to buy.

Is it indelicate of me to point out that the new hybrid Camry is actually better for the environment than an electric vehicle? All together now…

EVs are powered by power plants. Some 79 percent of the juice comes from coal, natural gas, petroleum and other gases. Another eight percent requires uranium (and careful attention).

Renewable energy accounts for the rest. Restoring the EV to saintly status? If you say so. Never mind that renewables cost more to build, take up a lot more space, generate power less efficiently and reliably, and require regular recycling.

EV batteries contain cobalt, much of it mined by slave labor with workers’ bare hands. Extracting a metric ton of the necessary lithium requires 500k gallons of water. The resulting run-off does nothing particularly good for plants, people and wildlife. At the other end of the lifecycle, less than five percent of EV batteries are recycled. Only half the materials are repurposed. [Tesla’s phasing-out cobalt, disappearing the financial incentive.]

The average EV buyer no more thinks of their vehicle’s total environmental impact than they do about the devastation required to create solar panels. Or shopping at Walmart.

If anything, EV evangelicals focus on the non-existent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their vehicle’s non-existent tailpipe. Accepting the “scientific consensus” that CO₂ emissions will drown us all (especially poor people). Or at least flood their beach houses.

The average Toyota owner has higher - what environmentalists call “selfish” - priorities: safety, reliability, handling, mileage, cost of ownership, comfort and entertainment. Design? Not so much (but some).

Meanwhile, EV owners are busy trying not to stress about keeping their battery-powered conveyance charged.

Finding a working charging station is like trying to find an honest climate scientist. The Wall Street Journal article I Visited Over 120 EV Chargers: Three Reasons Why So Many Were Broken tells the tale:

L.A. County has more public DC fast chargers than any other in the country… my video producer Adam Falk and I visited 30 different non-Tesla DC fast-charger stations in a Rivian R1T pickup. I ran into problems at 13 of them—that’s over 40%. Oof is right.

That’s in the PC capital of the world. So home charging it is. Assuming an EV buyer has a home with a wired garage (44 percent of Americans don’t) and a grand or three to trip their lights fantastic.

What ain’t so grand: EV’s are connected to their home charger with an umbilical cord made of piano wire. According to the “myth-busting” EPA…

Electric vehicle range is more than enough for typical daily use in the U.S.

EVs have sufficient range to cover a typical household’s daily travel, which is approximately 50 miles on average per day. The majority of households (roughly 85%) travel under 100 miles on a typical day.

It’s the same argument the “SUVs are killing the planet” brigade used to make back in the day, when SUVs were public enemy number one: you don’t need the capability you think you need (you stupid sons of a bitches). Except when we do Americans shouted - and continue to shout via their wallets.

Joe Q. Public can easily imagine an “atypical day” where they’d drive more than 200 miles. They can imagine an EV’s unreliable distance estimator sinking below 40 miles, in the rain, with traffic bunching up and the nearest charging point a 20-mile diversion. Arriving to find three other cars waiting to wait for their EV to recharge.

That’s one big reason EVs currently account for four percent of all cars on the road. Meanwhile, in the last five years alone, Toyota has sold over one million Camrys. To happy customers. At a profit. Almost all of which are still on the road, sipping gas and “polluting” the planet with minimal amounts of CO2.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand why someone would buy an EV [as second or third car]: to unleash enough torque to squish their face NASA style. I also appreciate buyers who seek to sustain/elevate their social status amongst the kool-air drinking eco warriors with whom they socialize. Just not in a good way.

I save my props for Toyota’s “daring” decision to equip all new Camrys with its hybrid system. The return of the $30k new car! Better mileage (51/53), better shove. Able to fill-up in minutes wherever dead dinosaur is sold. Good for 200k+ miles. Recyclable AF, including the hybrid’s nickel-metal hydride battery. Emitting 120/125 combined g/kg of CO₂ (qualifying as a “green vehicle”).

What’s not to love? From the auto industry’s POV (courtesy wsj):

…sales of sedans, including the Camry, have fallen off, decreasing to 2.9 million in 2022 from 7.2 million a decade prior, according to research firm Wards Intelligence. Buyers have instead flocked to roomier SUVs and crossovers, which have grown in popularity. 

Yes, well, thank you CAFE standards. Anyway, Toyota makes SUVs and crossovers, too. Lots. Soon to be blessed with their improved hybrid drive system via an $8b investment in a new North Carolina hybrid battery plant.

Bottom line:

Earlier this month, [Toyota] reported record-breaking profit, thanks in part to sales of hybrid vehicles, which it sells more of than any other automakers

The Big Three are too fat, lazy and stupid to know it’s a bad idea to build something people don’t want to buy, no matter what environmental activists, politicians and Uncle Sam has to say about it.

The success of the new, hybrid-only Toyota Camry and its hybrid cousins will highlight the ongoing folly of EV-mania, even as our tax money subsidizes less desirable power plant-powered competitors. In case anyone notices.

As for Toyota’s latest Lexus hybrid SUV, I recently drove the RX 550h F Sport. Am I a planet killer because I prefer it to the insanely quick Tesla Model X for handling, comfort and yes, sustainability? If so, guilty as charged. So to speak.