Toyota recalls its first electric cars amid fears of falling wheels Toyota

Toyota was forced to recall 2,700 of its first electric cars over fears of falling wheels, in a blow to the world’s largest automaker’s attempt to launch a battery-only car.

The global recall affects the Japanese manufacturer’s bZ4X SUV, its first attempt at a pure battery electric vehicle (EV), after the manufacturer found a problem with the bolts connecting the wheels to the chassis. It is studying whether components need to be replaced.

“Until treatment is available, no one should be driving these vehicles,” the company said in a statement.

Toyota has been the world’s largest automaker by sales for the past two years, ahead of Volkswagen. However, unlike its German competitor, it has not embraced all-electric technology to the same extent, aiming instead to continue producing conventional fossil fuel vehicles as well as hybrid electric vehicles that Combined battery and internal combustion engine.

The company argues that more customers will be able to purchase hybrid vehicles until the network of electric chargers improves, while still achieving reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. Electric vehicles, and possibly some driven by hydrogen fuel cells, would then allow it to go “beyond zero,” hence the word “bz” in the name of its first electric car. However, Toyota is facing pressure to provide models for markets such as the UK that will ban all new internal combustion engines after 2035, Despite pressure from Toyota and others.

Its different strategy makes it a Notable among the large auto manufacturerswho were incentivized to invest in the production of electric cars before Dieselgate scandalAnd the and Tesla, the American automaker run by Elon Musk, which pioneered building battery-powered cars on a large scale.

Toyota said in December it would spend $35 billion (£28 billion) developing its own electric vehicles, aiming to have 30 models available by 2030 and quickly catch up with rivals as sales of electric vehicles soar in some key markets in the world.

electric cars mechanically simpler than those with internal combustion engines, and therefore likely to require fewer visits to mechanics over their lifetime. However, they also tend to be heavier due to the dense batteries.

Christian Stadler, professor of strategic management at Warwick Business School, said: “Toyota can consider itself lucky that this recall has nothing to do with the car’s electrification. That could have been more damaging, given that the bZ4X is the company’s first mass-produced all-electric vehicle. big “.