This presentation was given by "Yukiko Denki" and "Kendra Bamp" on January 17, 2024, at the National Press Club, Washington, D.C.

YUKIKO: Greetings, thank you for coming. Today, you will enjoy the first look at an incredible technology that marks a rapid acceleration for the auto industry. Toyota has always cared about our planet’s liveability, and so has always been at the forefront of climate change. Today, we do more than innovate—we prove that the fast lane to a better tomorrow depends not so much on what’s inside a car, as what’s inside the heart of the driver. So buckle up, and let’s go on a ride.

I must start on a not-so-happy note. We all know... things. are. dire. Extreme climate events are escalating. This is not good for the planet, for the nature inside it, or for humans like us. But more than 25 years go, Toyota addressed this and solved the problem of fully gas-powered vehicles. You know the one...

We were first to popularize a car with a hybrid drivetrain, combining an internal combustion engine with an electric motor. Prius was the first and forever solution to the vehicle emissions problem. Aside from saving the planet a lot, it led to a long and happy marriage between our cars and environmentalist drivers who still love gaseous vroom-vroom.

You could even say we’ve opened that marriage to include a promiscuous number of models, from Yaris and Yaris Cross, to Corolla, Camry and RAV4—all of which are available in more electrified models. And now that we’ve expanded to more engine types, you could say it’s powertrain mating season at Toyota. And you are the guest of honor. Hybridity is how we futureproof the world...

The point is, the Prius family is still the world’s best-selling hybrid drivetrain for one reason: power diversity.

A hybrid unites diverse fuel types under one hood. Drivers enjoy the rumble of a gas combustion engine and the warming feeling of contributing to planetary health. When you see a Prius, you know the driver inside is a driver who feels like a driver who cares. But a caring  lifestyle doesn’t have to mean giving up the comforting rumble of a gaseous engine. Toyota drivers really can have it all.

But lately, governments and special interest groups have begun to impose inappropriate pressures on the automotive industry -- pressures to un-diversify and produce more fully electric vehicles. This, we believe, is a dangerous proposition.

Firstly, there is the issue of safety. EVs come with new problems. We discovered some with our first and only EV, which had the problem of self-removing wheels, an expensive issue we had no option but to address. It was a dangerous car and it didn’t sell well.

Secondly, there is the sound. Or, no sound, rather. EVs rob us of the rumble, the idling grumble, the soundtrack of life itself.

We’ve tried to reconcile this with our plans to add non-functional manual gearshifts, clutches, and mechanical sound effects to our future electrified models. But at risk of sounding sentimental, it’s just not the same.

A soundless engine is dangerous. This is the future electric extremists want: silent missiles flying out of the darkness to smoosh us and those we love. We don’t even want to do the math on what will take more lives, climate change or EVs. We’re scared of both.

We understand the goal: Less emissions. And EVs, as zero-emission vehicles, release an ideal amount of carbon which, scientifically speaking, is none. But this fad has gone too far, and EV advocates are now extremists overlooking the risks of EVs.

And Japan, Toyota’s home and mine, is a country that knows better than any what happens when unbridled enthusiasm for new energy sources goes too far...

So yes, less emissions, better for the planet, but we need solutions that are good for more than the environment. We need solutions that are good for us, good for you, and even good for people we don’t know. That solution is not electric cars, but electriFIED cars.

When you buy an Electrified car you buy the feeling of doing something good, regardless of what’s under the hood: Just about anything. Dual energy petrol and electric drivetrains, hydrogen fuel cell stacks, regular batteries, tiny horses on treadmills (just kidding)... but seriously, we’ll put anything in there. Maybe even a methane converter so your old dog can help power your car. 

Point is, at Toyota, Electrification is a feeling, not a technology. As long as your car is a little electrified, it doesn’t matter what’s under the hood. What matters is you feel like a good planetary steward, regardless of what’s under the hood. While the rest of the industry labors to release more EVs and reduce emissions, we’ve found a faster track simply by diversifying what Electric means: anything you can dream of. To take it from here, I pass it back to Kendra...

KENDRA: Thanks, Yukiko. Now, I have the privilege of introducing you to the heart of the Electrified family: Electra!

Electra is an AI eco-copilot available now online and inside Toyota vehicles worldwide. She is the result of nearly five continuous months of development at the Toyota Research Institute. She is a Large Language Model trained on automotive and climate data sets, and as a deep learning AI she’s equipped with the extraordinary capacity to adapt to each driver’s needs and even their feelings. Personally, I find her quite sassy.

Let’s meet her now...

[Screen shifts to a live voice-to-text interaction with Electra; video embed coming soon.]