The entertainment industry's leading sustainability group says privately it will cut ties with its top sponsor, after critics accuse Toyota of funding climate denial.
Watch Chris Paine's 2006 (yes I said 2006) documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" to see environmentalists work to prevent Toyota from crushing its early RAV4 EVs. We saved roughly 800 of these great zero-emission cars. Toyota has been aggressively anti-EV for roughly as long as the EMA has accepted their sponsorship.
Finally, Toyota is being called out for their greenwashing. We have been fighting this company since 2003 when they were recalling all their leased RAV4 EVs and crushing them. We saw through their lies over 20 years ago, even held protests at their Torrance headquarters and their Santa Monica dealership, resulting in the saving of several hundred EVs that would have been destroyed. Many of those ancient EVs are still being driven after two and a half decades.
The recent Tesla takedowns organized and attended by well-meaning, but terribly misinformed liberals upset with Elon Musk's hard right political switch resulted in fewer people switching to EVs. The oil companies sold more gasoline to those people than they would have had they made the switch. Tesla has directly taken over 8 million gas cars off the road, and indirectly they've taken tens of millions more off the road since it's Tesla that forced the entire global auto industry to go electric. So, to hurt Musk, these liberals ended up helping sell more gasoline, and that gas was burned resulting in more pollution.
It's time for good liberals to go after the real enemy, companies that sell gas-burning cars, and Toyota is the worst of the worst in that sense having sold over 10 million in 2024 alone. Organize Toyota takedowns throughout the country. No self-respecting Democrat, liberal, progressive, or leftist should ever buy a gas car again. The most effective weapon we have is the right to choose clean cars over dirty.
Thanks for this reporting, Sammy, I had no idea they lagged *that* far behind and were obstructionist as well. We definitely need the media, and especially Hollywood, to help us imagine a fossil free, or at a minimum, a markedly reduced fossil fuel future.
Wow Sammy, this is eye-opening! Thank you for your stellar reporting.
This caught my attention for many reasons. I've only owned one car in my life: a 2002 Prius that's still running! I love this car, but it's time to retire her.
I was just awarded the CA Clean Vehicle Rebate, which gives me $10K towards a used hybrid.
Until reading your post, I was certain I'd get another Toyota... but now I'm not so sure.
So, I have a question: if you were buying a used hybrid (2018-2024), what would you purchase?
(I know all-electric would be ideal, but charging remains a challenge for me where I live. I've rented EVs and finding available chargers has been consistently difficult!)
Hey Rachel, thank you for reading! No judgment on your Prius, all the experts I’ve talked with say the best decision is to drive your current car until it’s no longer viable…I have to admit I’m not sure what to tell you, I’m not an expert in the used hybrid market. Wouldn’t want to give you bad advice. I’ll be curious what you figure out though!
I'm jumping in with the suggestion that you purchase a used....wait for it....Tesla. I know the reaction, and I am vigorously anti-Elon, but not anti-Tesla, for all the climate reasons Sammy writes about. Tesla's charging infrastructure makes it possible for renters/non-homeowners to charge quickly and reliably. They're going for a song now. And I look at it this way: Tesla motivated the entire auto industry to go electric at a time of civilizational climate threat. Every other big auto company, not just Toyota, makes gasoline cars (that include hybrids) whose emissions, in study after study, have been shown to cause tens of thousands of deaths. Yet the CEOs of these companies get a pass? Again, I'm anti-Elon, even though I worked for his solar company, but not against the zero emission vehicle that enables so many to easily charge as we get our infrastructure up to speed.
Watch Chris Paine's 2006 (yes I said 2006) documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" to see environmentalists work to prevent Toyota from crushing its early RAV4 EVs. We saved roughly 800 of these great zero-emission cars. Toyota has been aggressively anti-EV for roughly as long as the EMA has accepted their sponsorship.
Definitely a worthwhile film to watch! Thanks for flagging this Zan.
Finally, Toyota is being called out for their greenwashing. We have been fighting this company since 2003 when they were recalling all their leased RAV4 EVs and crushing them. We saw through their lies over 20 years ago, even held protests at their Torrance headquarters and their Santa Monica dealership, resulting in the saving of several hundred EVs that would have been destroyed. Many of those ancient EVs are still being driven after two and a half decades.
The recent Tesla takedowns organized and attended by well-meaning, but terribly misinformed liberals upset with Elon Musk's hard right political switch resulted in fewer people switching to EVs. The oil companies sold more gasoline to those people than they would have had they made the switch. Tesla has directly taken over 8 million gas cars off the road, and indirectly they've taken tens of millions more off the road since it's Tesla that forced the entire global auto industry to go electric. So, to hurt Musk, these liberals ended up helping sell more gasoline, and that gas was burned resulting in more pollution.
It's time for good liberals to go after the real enemy, companies that sell gas-burning cars, and Toyota is the worst of the worst in that sense having sold over 10 million in 2024 alone. Organize Toyota takedowns throughout the country. No self-respecting Democrat, liberal, progressive, or leftist should ever buy a gas car again. The most effective weapon we have is the right to choose clean cars over dirty.
Hey Paul, really appreciate your reading and sharing some of this history. Thanks as always for the perspective.
Thanks for this reporting, Sammy, I had no idea they lagged *that* far behind and were obstructionist as well. We definitely need the media, and especially Hollywood, to help us imagine a fossil free, or at a minimum, a markedly reduced fossil fuel future.
Thank you for reading, Jane! Doing my best to help here.
Great column, Sammy. From the comments, it looks like some kind of comparison of electric cars might be in order. I think that could be very helpful.
Wow Sammy, this is eye-opening! Thank you for your stellar reporting.
This caught my attention for many reasons. I've only owned one car in my life: a 2002 Prius that's still running! I love this car, but it's time to retire her.
I was just awarded the CA Clean Vehicle Rebate, which gives me $10K towards a used hybrid.
Until reading your post, I was certain I'd get another Toyota... but now I'm not so sure.
So, I have a question: if you were buying a used hybrid (2018-2024), what would you purchase?
(I know all-electric would be ideal, but charging remains a challenge for me where I live. I've rented EVs and finding available chargers has been consistently difficult!)
Hey Rachel, thank you for reading! No judgment on your Prius, all the experts I’ve talked with say the best decision is to drive your current car until it’s no longer viable…I have to admit I’m not sure what to tell you, I’m not an expert in the used hybrid market. Wouldn’t want to give you bad advice. I’ll be curious what you figure out though!
I'm jumping in with the suggestion that you purchase a used....wait for it....Tesla. I know the reaction, and I am vigorously anti-Elon, but not anti-Tesla, for all the climate reasons Sammy writes about. Tesla's charging infrastructure makes it possible for renters/non-homeowners to charge quickly and reliably. They're going for a song now. And I look at it this way: Tesla motivated the entire auto industry to go electric at a time of civilizational climate threat. Every other big auto company, not just Toyota, makes gasoline cars (that include hybrids) whose emissions, in study after study, have been shown to cause tens of thousands of deaths. Yet the CEOs of these companies get a pass? Again, I'm anti-Elon, even though I worked for his solar company, but not against the zero emission vehicle that enables so many to easily charge as we get our infrastructure up to speed.