Sep 4, 2015 - 09:45 am

Kazou Hirai, Craig Scott, Ricardo Reyes.

“If we fundamentally believe at some point in time that we can make a difference in the automotive space, it’s something that we will look at.”

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai says it is possible that his company will team up with a traditional carmaker and enter the automotive industry. According to Hirai, the advent of electric cars has made it easier for outsiders to venture into the market.
zdnet.com

“When we launched Prius [in the U.S.] back in 2001, gas was about one dollar a gallon, which was pretty tough for a car that is fuel efficient. The same thing is true for Mirai. In California, gas is 3.50 dollars a gallon which makes it tough, but these things are cyclical.”

Craig Scott, U.S alternative fuel vehicle manager at Toyota, says the company is still betting on hydrogen as the next revolution in clean energy vehicles. And for Toyota, launching a fuel-efficient vehicle when petrol prices are low is nothing new.
cnbc.com

“We’re happy to see other people use the Model S sedan and our business model as benchmarks, whether they are large companies or well-funded startups.”

Tesla spokesperson Ricardo Reyes stayed calm following the news that NextEV had set out to build even better all-electric cars than Tesla. After all, the term ‘Tesla-fighter’ is nothing new for the Californian carmaker.
reuters.com

Jul 28, 2015 - 08:13 am

Volkmar Denner, J.B. Straubel, Craig Scott.

“For us the new players on the market are attractive new customers, who we take very seriously. This is true for Tesla, for Google and many others as well. Players from these industries have a new spirit, a new tempo. That inspires and drives us.”

Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner is keen on new technology and the competition it provides. While being convinced that electric mobility is already competitive today, especially for pedelecs, in terms of battery technology, there is still room for improvement.
tagesspiegel.de (in German)

“We don’t want to just make cars electric. We need to link electric cars all the way back to where the energy comes from. It has to be renewable energy to really make the difference that we want to do.”

Tesla CTO J.B. Straubel carries the environmental banner before projecting that the tipping point of when green technology will make sense economically will be reached within the next 10 years.
hybridcars.com

“I often say that the infrastructure is a generation behind the vehicle. And that’s something that’s going to have to be resolved and reconciled pretty quickly [over] these next two years as we ramp up sales and as other manufacturers come online.”

Craig Scott, national alternative fuel vehicle manager at Toyota, comments on the lack of hydrogen infrastructure. While Japan is getting there, the U.S. has not “Mirai-friendly” policies in place.
forbes.com

Jul 21, 2015 - 08:14 am

Craig Scott, Richard Branson, Elon Musk.

“We don’t see any battery technology that would allow us to…give customers a comparable driving experience at a reasonable price.”

Craig Scott, national alternative fuel vehicle manager at Toyota, says that range anxiety cannot be combatted with BEVs, but with fuel cell cars and that there is a “fundamental science problem” with batteries.
forbes.com

“I’m willing to bet that in 20 years there will only be battery-driven new cars being built.”

Sir Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Racing Formula E team, is certain that the electric racing series will overtake the Formula 1 in terms of popularity in the next five years, and that soon, petrol-cars will be a rarity.
chroniclelive.co.uk

“X is on track for first deliveries in two months and Model 3 in just over two years.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted this timetable for his upcoming EVs together with updates for the Model S (we reported yesterday).
teslamotors.com

Feb 27, 2015 - 09:58 am

Martin Winterkorn, Craig Scott, Ian Wright.

“I imagine Apple or Google could be successful in building low-speed electric vehicles. But for everything that goes faster than 100 kilometres per hour, you need to understand the rules of physics and not only master digitalisation.”

VW head Martin Winterkorn compares Google’s EVs to golf carts, saying that those can be made by manufacturers with little knowledge about cars – one has to wonder how relevant fast cars really are outside of the “Autobahn” nation.
stern.de (in German)

“Toyota is a big company, but we can’t create this on our own. So it is important to help speed the development of the technology. And what better way than to share 22 years of learning with the industry?”

Craig Scott, national manager of advanced technologies of Toyota Motor Sales, explains the carmaker’s decision to open its patents on hydrogen fuel cell technologies. He sees the move as an opportunity to work on “global problems” together.
forbes.com

“We wanted to change people’s perception about electric cars. People thought they were golf carts. They don’t think that anymore.”

Ian Wright, head of Wrightspeed and co-founder of Tesla now wants to target garbage trucks, offering an electric solution for the sector. According to Wright, consumer cars “don’t burn enough fuel.”
qz.com