Mazda to tag team Toyota on electric car project

Toyota, Mazda and Japanese parts supplier Denso have announced they will form a joint-venture to rapidly advance the development of pure-electric vehicles.

Creating a new company called EV Common Architecture Spirit Company (EVCAS), the three firms say they will work closely together to develop not only a new architecture to underpin a range of electric vehicles, but the hardware and components to power them.

Set to spin-off everything from small cars, large SUVs and even light trucks, the deal to work together began in August but only announced late last night.

Headed up by current Toyota vice-president, Shigeki Terashi, the deal is designed to share development costs and provide the volume needed for pure-electric cars to be viable.

It's thought the real motivating factor behind the sudden desire for both Toyota and Mazda to leap into bed with one another is huge demand in Europe and the sudden frenzy of new pure-electric vehicles from the likes of BMW, Volkswagen and even Jaguar Land Rover.

Despite all the fanfare surrounding the alliance between the two car makers, initially, the new company will have just 40 employees consisting of hand-picked engineers from all three firms.

The lack of employees, says EVCAS, will help it mimic, nimble Silicon Valley start-ups helping it react quickly to new advances in technology.

Toyota, which owns 90 per cent of the shares of EVCAS, will lead the project.

The project will work by jointly developing the hardware and platform before the car makers individually split to develop their own specific vehicles.

It's believed, to save time, engineers will begin using Toyota's TNGA global platform that will be adapted for pure-electric hardware.

Mazda, meanwhile, will dedicate its computer modelling experience and product planning while Denso will specialise in the electronics.

EVCAS says it will introduce solid state batteries by early 2020. The next-gen battery cells will enable faster charging and a longer range.

Before the joint-venture was announced Mazda had already announced plans to launch a battery-powered vehicle in 2019. Toyota, meanwhile, is expected to launch its own pure-electric car around the same time.