Toyota electric car surge coming

Toyota has outlined its mid-term EV strategy overnight, confirming it will sink almost $100 billion (¥8 trillion) into the development of dozens of all-new electric vehicles – including utes, 4x4 off-roaders, SUVs, crossovers and sports cars.

The world’s biggest car-maker has bowed to increasing pressure to accelerate its EV rollout, with CEO Akio Toyoda confirming his company would unleash more than 30 EVs this decade.

Toyota’s first global electric car – the 2022 Toyota bZ4X – is still yet to hit global markets, which has given rivals like Volkswagen a significant head start.

Surrounded by 17 of the incoming new electric cars from both the Toyota and Lexus brands, Toyoda said: “Welcome to our showroom of the future!

“Specifically, we plan to roll out 30 battery EV models by 2030, globally offering a full line-up of battery EVs in the passenger and commercial segments,” he declared.

Toyoda stopped short of committing to becoming a full-time EV auto-maker, but did confirm the brand’s luxury arm, Lexus, would transition to pure-electric vehicles by 2035.

The man credited with making Toyota cool again – insisting, for example, on developing the GR high-performance sub-brand and reviving the Toyota Supra sports car – Toyoda-san stated the company predicts sales of around 3.5 million EVs by 2030.

That’s around a third of its annual global sales, which is far less than competitors like Volkswagen, which are forecasting around half of all the cars it sells will be fully electric by decade’s end.

Toyota’s CEO is holding the line with combustion engine technology, ensuring petrol and diesel-engines will continue to be the dominant power source for its vehicles in the foreseeable future.

“We are living in a diversified world and in an era in which it is hard to predict the future. Therefore, it is difficult to make everyone happy with a one-size-fits-all option,” he said.

“That is why Toyota wants to prepare as many options as possible for our customers around the world.”

He said the ultimate goal was reduce carbon emissions and this could be achieved in several ways, including with hybrid vehicles and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

The idea that dirty power, such as from coal-fired power stations, was fuelling car fleets around the world also rated a mention.

“If the energy that powers vehicles is not clean, the use of an electrified vehicle, no matter what type it might be, would not result in zero CO2 emissions,” he said.

Toyota in confident its EV technology will competitive, despite its hesitance around battery-electric vehicles and its long-term investments in hybrid vehicles, of which around 18 million have found homes globally since the original Toyota Prius in 1997.

With a dizzying array of all-new vehicles on show, including a large three-row family SUV, Toyoda confirmed it would deliver efficient battery systems for its electric vehicle product onslaught, singling out a compact SUV aimed at Japanese and European markets.

“The important thing is to what degree we can increase a vehicle’s overall energy efficiency, in other words how much less energy a vehicle needs to run. This is exactly the technology that Toyota has been refining for more than 30 years,” he said.

“Putting our best efforts into all aspects of these, with this vehicle, we are aiming for a power consumption of 125 Watt-hours per kilometre, which would be the highest in the compact SUV class.”

Six global car-makers, including Ford and GM, recently pledged to phase out fossil-fuelled cars by 2040 but Toyota refused to sign up, arguing that many markets would not be ready for the EV transition.

While EV sales are still modest compared to conventional combustion vehicles, government legislation and new models reaching the market – some with a more affordable price point – have seen their uptake rise dramatically in 2021.

No timelines were given on specific vehicles shown during the event, but it is clearly reacting to global pressures surrounding 2050 net zero carbon emissions targets and the actions of its competitors with the transition to pure-electric car manufacturing. 

Toyota has also committed to increasing investments in battery production and has earmarked North Carolina as a location for a new battery plant that will be operational in 2025, as it seeks to gain a foothold in burgeoning US electric vehicle market.

The first Toyota EV coming to Australia will be the bZ4X, due in late 2022.

It was jointly developed with Subaru, but details on its battery capacity and range are still unknown.