(The following is an op-ed sent to us by Adam Lee, Chairman of Lee Auto Malls, in advance of Toyota’s June 10 annual shareholder meeting)

Toyota can do better

Like many Mainers, I grew up hiking, camping and playing in the Maine woods. Since my son was 4 years old we have hiked and camped up north.  I don’t take it for granted that these woods will always be here or that the water and air will remain clean without all of us protecting it.

I have testified throughout the country for stronger emissions standards, chaired Maine’s energy efficiency board, and even won environmental awards. It hasn’t always made me the most popular car dealer in the room, but that’s how my dad raised me.  He always taught me to stand up for what’s right.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

That is why for years I championed Toyota vehicles. In 2001, when Ford, GM, and Chrysler were building larger and larger SUVs, Toyota introduced the Prius, which got 50 miles per gallon. At the time, we were the third smallest Toyota dealer in the state. However, I was so excited about the Prius that I brought it to every clean car fair in Maine, and in time we became the state’s largest hybrid dealer.

However, hybrids alone are no longer enough to address the growing climate crisis. That’s why for the last twelve years I have driven an electric vehicle. 

While other automakers have continued to evolve, Toyota has fallen to the back of the pack. In 2024, just 1.2% of the vehicles that Toyota sold in the U.S. were fully electric, far below the national average of 9.1%. EV sales have been growing steadily every year in the U.S., and experts expect that growth to continue.

Toyota has intentionally taken a different approach, becoming the leader in plug-in hybrids.  This is great, and we sell hundreds of them.  However, I was shocked to learn that while they develop the best hybrids in the world, they are also supporting climate deniers.  

Over the last three electoral cycles, Toyota became the top auto industry financier of climate deniers, financing 207 of their congressional campaigns. In this last election, Toyota widened the gap with other automakers, donating to more than four times as many climate deniers as Ford and nearly twice as many as GM. After not donating to the Biden inauguration, it donated $1 million to the inauguration of President Trump, who calls climate change a “hoax” and is working to dismantle environmental regulations. 

Toyota has been more aggressive than its peers in lobbying against climate action. It was ranked the third worst in the world–after only Chevron and Exxon–for its anti-climate lobbying, and for the last few years has ranked last amongst automakers. Just days after the election, Toyota wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed entitled “Trump Can Get EVs Back on Track,” calling on the new administration to dismantle policies that encourage automakers to make cleaner vehicles. 

It also just publicly endorsed a dangerous bill from former car dealer Bernie Moreno. Moreno, who credits Toyota with organizing the coalition of car dealers that supported his Senate run, is trying to eviscerate environmental, climate, and fuel efficiency standards. That would cost drivers tens of billions of dollars and could kill tens of thousands of Americans every year. With weak standards, average fuel efficiency for cars and SUVs actually decreased between 1983 and 2000. In the year 2000, nearly 150,000 Americans died from air pollution. Then we started strengthening environmental, climate, and fuel efficiency standards. 

Thanks in large part to the very standards that Toyota and Senator Moreno want to eliminate, by 2021 those deaths had been more than halved. From 40 years in the car business, I have learned that absent good policy, automakers will not make dramatic improvements in safety or fuel efficiency. Why would we try to reverse the progress we have made?

Don’t get me wrong: I love Toyota and the cars they produce. They are well-made, reliable, affordable cars and trucks.  And they are a great company to work with.  

But even with those we love, we must tell them when they’re falling short. I want Toyota to get back to being the green car company I have been so proud to support. Stop supporting climate deniers, give me more E.V.’s to sell. Toyota can do better.

–Adam Lee, Chairman, Lee Auto Malls, Maine’s largest car dealership chain

Electrek’s Take

While we don’t often run submissions sent to us in full, this one had an interesting angle given that auto dealers have long been one of the roadblocks slowing down fleet electrification, especially in the US.

While it’s true that dealers can often provide a worse EV shopping experience than direct purchases from EV-focused brands, that’s not true of all of them. Some of them get it, and Adam Lee seems to be one of them.

He’s written before encouraging EVs, and has testified in front of several states encouraging higher fuel economy and emissions standards.

So we’d love to see more dealers like this, who understand more about the market and the world they live in, and recognize that you can’t sell cars on a dead planet. Instead of the typical nonsense we’ve heard about from the dealer lobby.

We continued the conversation briefly through email, and Lee brought up some points which we’ve pointed out many times before – that if the US wants to stay competitive globally, it needs to recognize the transition that is happening in the auto industry.

Lee said that other dealers and the car industry as a whole are “all shortsighted” in their resistance to EVs, which is something you may have heard before from yours truly. He mentioned that China is “wisely” focusing on EVs, and that “China will do what Japan and South Korea did, quietly and quickly come to dominate the industry.”

Which is a relevant warning to the company who was the main protagonist in that initial takeover.

Toyota helped push Japan to the top of the list of global auto exporting companies in the 1970s, where it remained in one of the top two spots for the last 5 decades, due to its better processes and technology and its embrace of car styles that better fit a global market that was worried about limited gasoline supply.

That dominance held until last year, where China is now on the top of that list… due to its better processes and technology and its embrace of car styles that better fit a global market that is worried about limited gasoline supply.

The resistance to change could harm not just Toyota, but Japan as a whole. The country is behind on electrification, and car exports are a huge part of its economy. One report says Japan could lose 14% GDP and millions of jobs by stalling on EVs.

And given Toyota’s annual shareholder meeting is coming up on June 10, this is the right time for shareholders to demand that Toyota protect their investment for the long term and take EVs more seriously. The company is not headed in the right direction right now, and needs change. Its investors, its dealers, its customers, its countrymen, and indeed everyone on the planet should be concerned about this.

Charge your electric vehicle at home using rooftop solar panels. Find a reliable and competitively priced solar installer near you on EnergySage, for free. They have pre-vetted installers competing for your business, ensuring high-quality solutions and 20-30% savings. It’s free, with no sales calls until you choose an installer. Compare personalized solar quotes online and receive guidance from unbiased Energy Advisers. Get started here. – ad*

Lucid (LCID) already builds some of the most “American-made” vehicles. All of its vehicles, drive units, battery packs, and modules are produced in Arizona. After securing a new deal for American-sourced Graphite, a critical material for EV batteries, Lucid is bolstering its US supply chain.

Lucid expands EV battery supply chain in the US

Last year, Lucid made history as the first US EV maker to strike a deal with an American graphite company, Graphite One.

The new multi-year supply agreement, signed on Wednesday, builds on the partnership, supplying Lucid and its US-based EV battery suppliers with natural graphite.

Graphite One will source the materials from its site just north of Nome, Alaska, while production will take place at its proposed active anode material (AAM) plant in Ohio. The natural graphite will be used in upcoming Lucid vehicles, starting in 2028.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Lucid’s interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, said expanding its US supply chain “drives our nation’s economy, increases our independence against outside factors or market dynamics.”

Separately, starting in 2026, Syrah Resources will supply natural graphite AAM to Lucid and its suppliers from its production facility in Louisiana.

On the company’s earnings call last month, Winterhoff said that Lucid is “in a better position than others given that we produce all of our vehicles we sell and major components like our drive units, battery modules and packs in the US in Arizona.” However, “changes in policy bring about uncertainty,” he added.

The materials will be used in Lucid’s upcoming midsize models at a lower cost. In the second half of 2026, Lucid plans to launch its midsize platform.

Lucid’s first two midsize models are expected to be an electric SUV and sedan, with a starting price of around $50,000. According to former CEO Peter Rawlinson, the midsize platform is “finally, when we compete directly with Tesla.”

For now, Lucid will focus on ramping up production of its first electric SUV, the Gravity. The Lucid Gravity Grand Touring is now available, starting at $94,900, with a range of up to 450 miles. Later this year, the lower-priced Touring trim will join the lineup, priced at $79,900.

Lucid also launched its biggest discounts on Air sedans so far, with up to $31,500 off 2025 models this June.

An EV charging pilot in California is flipping the script on how and when we plug in, and it could save drivers hundreds while making the grid cleaner and more stable.

The program, called ChargeWise California, is led by EV charging software company ev.energy and funded by the California Energy Commission’s REDWDS initiative. It ran in partnership with two local community energy providers: MCE and Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE).

Early results are in, and they show that when EVs are charged based on hourly price signals and grid conditions, not just static Time-of-Use (TOU) rates, everyone wins. EV drivers saved an average of $200 a year compared to TOU rates alone. More importantly, this kind of smart charging pushed up to 98% of EV charging to off-peak hours, compared to the 60-70% typically seen with TOU-only rates and 90% when TOU is paired with traditional managed charging.

Here’s how the pilot worked: ChargeWise California used dynamic pricing to encourage drivers to charge when energy is cheapest and cleanest, like during the day when solar is abundant. That helped shift as much as 30% of charging to midday, cut down on electricity costs, and avoided strain on the grid during evening peaks. It also helped avoid the so-called “timer peaks” that happen when everyone plugs in at the same time.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

This approach didn’t just help EV drivers. Because flexible charging reduces overall system strain, it benefits all utility customers, even those without EVs. ev.energy estimates that smart, grid-aligned charging could deliver over $1,000 in system-wide value per EV per year.

To keep things fair, the pilot used a submetering method that only applied dynamic pricing to EV charging – not the whole house. That meant customers without solar panels or batteries weren’t penalized for being unable to shift their entire home’s energy use. More than 1,000 people signed up in just two months, and over half were from disadvantaged communities.

And when dynamic pricing is paired with clear communication and automation, participation gets easier, savings increase, and the grid gets more flexible.

“Enrolling in MCE Sync was incredibly easy, and it has made managing my EV charging so simple,” said MCE customer Franco Maynetto. “I love being able to track my energy consumption and see how much I’m saving each month.”

Nick Woolley, CEO and co-founder of ev.energy, says the key to making managed charging work is to build solutions that are dynamic, equitable, and easy to use. “We need an approach that targets flexible loads, is built through collaboration, and ensures everyone benefits—especially underserved communities,” he said.

SVCE CEO Monica Padilla echoed that. “Helping our customers charge off-peak to lower their bills and align their charging with when energy is cleanest is not just valuable for our community, but for the broader California energy ecosystem,” she said.

MCE’s Alice Havenar-Daughton added that the ability to experiment with rate structures through partnerships is key: “Combining targeted dynamic pricing with managed charging can significantly shift peak load and reduce costs, especially for underserved communities.”

In phase 2 of ChargeWise California, ev.energy will partner with utilities to “tap into the full value” of flexible charging.

Read more: With a $30M raise, SparkCharge takes EV fleet charging off-grid

If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*