Toyota Gets Called Out On Self-Charging Car Campaign

Toyota gets a bit testy as people push back against its "self-charging" hybrids.

By: Steven Loveday

Mar 2, 2020 at 10:36am ET

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If you follow the electric car space – and we assume at least most of our website visitors do – you may be aware of Toyota's "self-charging hybrid" campaign. Essentially, the company has produced ads that are "anti-plug-in" in an attempt to prove that its self-charging hybrid vehicles are a better option.

Despite such ads being deemed misleading and banned in EV-friendly locations like Norway, Toyota continues to push the issue. However, it only took a simple Twitter comment to push Toyota to admit publically that these cars are simply ICE vehicles. Sure, they're fuel-efficient hybrids and are thus electrified, but the marketing strategy is questionable to some.

To be fair, many people are aware that hybrid vehicles run on gas. Moreover, most folks may be aware that hybrid vehicles are more fuel-efficient than conventional cars. These are details that, while it seems many people may be aware of, are a bit confusing in the grand scheme of things.

What do you think?

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So, Toyota is now pushing its hybrid cars as self-charging vehicles, though nothing has actually changed. If you know exactly how a hybrid car works, this is true, but these Toyota and Lexus vehicles are not officially electric cars by most definitions. They're not even plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), though Toyota does offer the popular Toyota Prius Prime, which is a PHEV. In addition, the RAV4 Prime is coming soon.

Our good friends at Teslarati found some comments and replies on a recent Toyota post on Twitter. Sadly, we don't have the one tweet reply where Toyota admitted that its self-charging hybrids are just ICE cars. However, we do have a number of tweets combatting Toyota's "self-charging" hybrid campaign. Of course, Toyota is compelled to answer honestly. Still, the automaker got a bit testy about the situation and then tried hard to get positive comments and promote its cars. Check it all out below, then scroll down and leave us some comments.