Adios, Honda.
Any company doubling down on fossil fuels in 2026 is fucking toast. Did Mazda ever clue in and come up with an d strategy?
As a kid I just assumed all these giant car companies would be around forever. That their leadership knew how to stay in business and read the tea leaves.
Apparently I was wrong. They’re stupid af.
They’re not really doubling down on fossil fuels. They’re just going into hydrogen fuel cells instead. But, Toyota tried that and it’s not working. The Japanese are incredibly stubborn for these things.
Meanwhile, China is coming with a new solid state battery for E.V.s that will revolutionize everything. Fast charging up to 80% within 5 min. Temperature doesn’t affect the efficiency, will allow for longer range and is also safe against punctures as they don’t catch on fire like conventional batteries.
The Japanese are incredibly stubborn for these things
They’re not stubborn, they don’t have a choice. The Japanese electrical grid is antiquated and stressed to the breaking point. A massive consumer migration to EVs would cause total collapse.
There aren’t any easy solutions either. The Fukushima nuclear disaster has made the situation even worse, both by reducing the amount of generation capacity and by constraining policy (new nuclear plants are politically untenable now).
Renewables seem like the obvious answer, but the grid infrastructure isn’t good there. There’s No storage capacity, nor is there any geographic redundancy. Japan is a country of 122 million people crammed into a few small islands. When the sun stops shining, it stops shining for the whole country. When the wind doesn’t blow, it doesn’t blow for the whole country. This means if they become dependent on a lot of renewables they become susceptible to multiple-day blackouts, with potentially severe consequences in the winter.
There’s a lot wrong with this.
new nuclear plants are politically untenable now
Was the case but not so much now, especially as rising prices and inflation are crunching families. Several parties now include at least reviving shut-down plants that are safe to do.
the grid infrastructure isn’t good there
Could you elaborate here?
When the sun stops shining, it stops shining for the whole country
We’re not that small, even going on the main islands alone.
When the wind doesn’t blow, it doesn’t blow for the whole country.
And this is just plain wrong for a number of climate and geographical reasons.
I’ve lived in Japan for more than a decade both in greater Tokyo and rural Tohoku in addition to traveling all around it.