Electric (EV) and hybrid vehicles have been slow to take off in Australia compared to many other countries and regions, due in part to the vast amount of rural roads connecting towns that fail to accommodate electric technology.

However, Toyota believes that while EVs may be a stretch for many rural drivers, hybrid vehicles look to be a plausible alternative to diesel and petrol vehicles for many.

To try and get rural drivers to think about taking up hybrid vehicles, the Japanese manufacturer has spent the last several months travelling the country on a ‘hybrid cavalcade’ tour to promote their new range of vehicles to those they believe are not yet fully aware of the technology.

With hybrid models including the RAV4, Camry and Corolla already available, Toyota have afforded the opportunity for rural communities to test drive these vehicles, many for the first time.

However, after travelling through Queensland and Victoria so far, Toyota has come to the realization that the hybrid technology is perhaps not as new to these communities as they first thought, with similar technology already used in farm machinery on many local farms.

Toyota Australia vice-president, sales and marketing, Sean Hanley, said he was surprised at just how advanced the technology being used was, but found the findings very useful.

“The hybrid cavalcade has been very successful for us, but it’s’ actually taught us a lot,” said Hanley. “By going out in the communities in regional Australia, hearing about the things they’re doing on their properties, they’re quite advanced.”

“They’re far more advanced with the technology than we ever knew, they’re already open to exploring alternative powertrains, and they were basically asking us ‘where’s the hybrid HiLux and where’s the hybrid LandCruiser.”

While electric vehicles were found to be a dead end for many locals in many rural communities, Hanley said that hybrid options would still provide a cleaner alternative to diesel while removing the deterrents that come with EVs.

“It’s affordable, there’s no infrastructure (to charge cars) required, they want a practical solution and a non-plug-in (hybrid) is a practical solution.”

Plug-in hybrids (PHEV), much like full electric vehicles, have struggled to find a market in Australia so far, but Hanley is not ruling out more PHEVs entering the country one day.

“It’s not that we can’t bring plug-in hybrid to the market, we can at some point. It’s whether or not the market will accept it. Plug-in hybrids have other benefits, but right now Australian consumers are clearly in my opinion voting for hybrid electric.”

Toyota have confirmed that they will continue to filter new hybrid options into their Australian fleet, with the C-HR city SUV the latest addition.

As for the LandCruiser and HiLux hybrid models, they are expected to arrive in showrooms sometime before 2025.

Original source: Caradvice | Rural Australia ready for hybrid technology in utes and 4WDs, says Toyota

16 Dec 2019