Toyota recently announced its plan to accelerate the production of its electric vehicles. Their new goal is to get half of its global sales to be EVs by 2025, five years ahead of schedule. The company also published an image of the six new Toyota electric vehicles that are expected to hit the market next year.
The latest builder to announce ambitious plans for electric mobility is Toyota, which is accelerating the development of new models and plans to launch 10 models worldwide starting in 2020, including six global models built on the new platform e-TNGA.
Toyota added that they aim to sell one million fully electric cars and 4.5 million hybrids by 2025. Moreover, Toyota revealed that after 2025, it expects to own "only" electric cars. By electric car it means a vehicle which has at least one electric motor, so hybrids can be counted. This means that within six years, the Japanese construction company will no longer build cars with only combustion engines. The gasoline or diesel variants that exist today will disappear from the brand's portfolio.
Toyota's electric program will begin with the C-HR, a model that the Japanese house will launch in China. It will then be followed by the 6 new EVs that Toyota has shown which include a crossover, an average SUV, a large SUV, a saloon and a hatchback, some of which can be developed in partnership with its subsidiary Subaru and Suzuki.
There are still very few details about these Toyota electric vehicles. It's unclear which of them will be purely electric and which will be hybrid. What they have in common is its aggressive and angular exterior designs reminiscent of Toyota’s existing EVs, but also of their recent cars like the new RAV4.
Toyota is aware that there will be effects on this huge change they are aiming for but says it is worth a try. Toyota warned that in addition to their profits being hit hard by the massive investment in electric cars, the speed of implementation would be regulated by the ability to find enough batteries for all projects. With this, the Japanese brand is now already working with several companies and recently signed an agreement with Chinese CATL and will be preparing to develop solid batteries in partnership with Panasonic.
Solid batteries are considered a key innovation for the democratization of electric vehicles, and Toyota has now announced that it intends to introduce them to the public next year. Several advantages are the lower weight, greater autonomy, and a higher level of security.
This information was confirmed by the Vice President and head of Research and Development of the Japanese brand, Shigeki Terashi adding that by the time of next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo, where Toyota is one of the sponsors, they would we want to be sure that solid batteries can be presented.
The arrival of this new energy storage system will allow Toyota to diversify its offer in new engines further. With a very ambitious plan, solid batteries can help Toyota achieve it and will enable the brand to expand its portfolio, adding pure electric, hybrid models, Plug-In and also hydrogen VCF.
