From our other sites
The story
A thread that kicked off with the post “EVs are defective junk — Toyota’s hybrids are the pinnacle” quickly split into two camps: one pointing to Norway’s 97% EV adoption rate as a rebuttal, and another citing the unique conditions of Japan’s heavy-snowfall regions. The exchange dragged on with comparisons of snowfall totals and the state of roads after snow removal, before the back half of the thread shifted to differences in Toyota’s and Nissan’s corporate strategies.
What people said
Already wrong
While everyone's pouring money into cars that are already doomed, China's going to grab the lead in physical AI too
Though you need a detached house where you can set up home charging
If you only drive on weekends, they work fine even in the city
Honestly might even beat gas cars since you don't have to worry about oil changes or carbon buildup
The fact that Norway's EV adoption is already at 97% kind of kills the "but Japan has snow" argument from the start, IMO
Can't really say, the snow quality is different
Nordic countries don't get stranded-on-the-highway situations like the Kan-Etsu Expressway does
Also, the bumpy roads left after snow removal are still rough on EVs
That 97% is also the result of the government heavily subsidizing EVs as national policy, you know
Uses nitrogen and hydrogen as fuel instead of a battery
Zero CO2
Though that's not counting the manufacturing process
If anything, Finland has a higher risk of that kind of highway stranding
Wait, where'd Norway go?
Nordic countries get light, powdery snow because of low humidity and low temps, so it's easy to clear
That's different from Japan's snow, which soaks up moisture from the Sea of Japan
You should try driving the bumpy roads on the Sea of Japan side after snow removal sometime
You'll see Alphards (Toyota's big minivan) with their bumpers knocked clean off all the time
It's just rich people buying them as a hobby
I think there's demand for EVs as a run-around car
If Suzuki puts out an electric kei truck, I bet it'll dominate
Especially in the countryside, gas stations are closing left and right, but there's no shortage of solar power
Why are you lying so casually?
Norway's snow isn't powdery at all
If anything Norway's snow has higher humidity and the temperature climbs enough that it melts and turns into black ice
Also, bumpers falling off has nothing to do with whether it's an EV or not
And going without AC during the brutal hot season is unthinkable
With AC running, a full charge only gets you 130km
Go compare Nordic snowfall totals to Japan's, why don't you?
Bumpy roads are rough on EVs since the weight's concentrated low down where the battery's mounted
You're not really into cars, are you?
Your whole argument is built on a false premise to begin with
Why are you casually changing the subject?
Also, the bumpiness is about the same in Japan and Norway
And having the weight low down actually improves stability on snowy roads, so that's a plus
You've clearly never driven in snow
The bumper's gone before stability even becomes an issue
The whole point is that "EVs can't work in Japanese winters" is wrong to begin with
Whether Norway subsidizes EVs or not is beside the point
The question is whether they're actually usable in Japan, right?
So you have no objection to saying EVs are fine even in Japanese winters?
First prove you can get 300km+ of range with the heater running in the dead of winter
Otherwise it's useless
Did you not even look it up? Japan's max snow depth is 8m versus Norway's 2m
That's the total for the whole winter, so each individual snowfall in the Nordics isn't a big deal
Which means the bumpy post-plowing roads are on a completely different scale too
Please, just do the bare minimum of research
What's the point of just looking at max snow depth?
Also, if a place is plowed, the roads aren't that different
Don't tell me you think cars in an area with 8m of snow are driving on top of 8m of snow?
You've never driven in snow, have you
Speaking as someone from Aomori, you're the one who's wrong here
Why don't you just apologize
Couldn't read the part that said "for the whole winter," huh
If you actually drove, you'd instantly get why the frequency of heavy dumps matters
Apparently EV market share is creeping up little by little — in rural areas where gas stations are disappearing, there's growing demand for electric kei cars as a second car you can charge at home
They were also talking about how the market might shift as Chinese automakers move in
Only in rural areas
Even calling it "market share" is a stretch, it's nothing much
First you'd have to ask what percentage of people even have a home garage or parking spot where they can charge
Background and Key Points
Toyota and Nissan hardly compete on EVs at home the way this thread implies. Japan’s domestic EV share sits in the low single digits — roughly 1-2% of new car sales, dwarfed by hybrids, which is why “Toyota’s hybrids are supreme” reads as an uncontroversial default rather than a hot take to most Japanese buyers. Toyota has bet heavily on hybrid and hydrogen technology (it pioneered the mass-market hybrid with the Prius in 1997) while Nissan pushed earlier into pure EVs with the Leaf back in 2010, so the “corporate strategy” tangent the thread drifts into isn’t random — it maps onto a real, long-running industry split over which powertrain Japan should standardize on.
The thread doesn’t actually divide over “EVs good or bad” in the abstract; it splits on whether Norway’s 97% EV adoption is a valid rebuttal to snow-country skepticism, with posters arguing past each other about snow depth versus snow quality (powder versus moisture-laden Sea-of-Japan snow) and disagreeing on whether Norway’s numbers reflect real-world usability or just heavy state subsidies.
What’s missing from the exchange is that Norway’s adoption is propped up by decades of purchase-tax exemptions, toll and ferry discounts, and free public charging that Japan has never matched, so the comparison being fought over isn’t really “snow versus snow” — it’s an unsubsidized market against one of the most subsidized EV markets on earth. Readers should also know Japan’s harshest snow belt (Tohoku, Hokuriku, Hokkaido) is a small fraction of the national driving population; the debate is more relevant to a minority of Japanese drivers than the thread’s tone suggests.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Japanese netizens: ‘EVs are no good! Defective junk! Toyota’s hybrids are the supreme, ultimate answer’”.
Leave a Reply