Toyota ramps up EV rollout

Toyota has announced two new battery-electric vehicles and a plug-in hybrid will be launched in the US this year as the Japanese car-maker works to make up ground on EVs lost to rivals such as the Volkswagen Group.

One of the EVs will be an SUV and is expected to be the all-new model Toyota confirmed late last year that it was developing for Europe in a joint-venture program with Subaru.

This will be based on Toyota’s new e-TNGA platform.

The other EV for the US market remains a secret, but material presented in conjunction with the announcement suggests it will be a new full-electric sedan.

The most obvious candidate for full electrification from the company’s current North American line-up is the Toyota Camry, which is the best-selling passenger car in the US, while the Toyota RAV4, as America’s most popular SUV, could emerge as the PHEV.

At least one of the new EVs is expected to be produced at a new $2 billion factory in Huntsville, Alabama, which has been constructed as part of a joint venture with Mazda.

The new facility will be operational this year and will spawn a new SUV for Mazda – potentially the Mazda CX-X (or CX-10), which is on the radar for Australia – as well as new Toyota Corolla variants.

The latter could include the first-ever Toyota Corolla EV and possibly a Toyota GR Corolla hot hatch.

A spokesperson from Toyota Australia told carsales: “We don’t have any EVs on our radar right now. [But] we would never rule anything out for the future.”

Toyota Australia’s sales and marketing chief Sean Hanley told us recently that the local subsidiary’s electrification strategy was under review and that the accelerated rollout of global product launches could pull forward the Aussie timeline.

Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus has also confirmed its first EV, the UX 300e, will go on sale later this year.

Toyota has sold more hybrid cars than any other brand on the planet, but until recently has focused on hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles.

The auto giant is working to a plan announced in 2017 that it will have 10 EVs on sale by the “early 2020s” and offer some form of electrified powertrain in every model in its range by 2025.

It recently unveiled the Toyota C+Pod ultra-compact EV in Japan, but the models being developed for the US and Europe are more in line with Australian buyer preferences.

As well as the SUV being co-developed with Subaru, Toyota will introduce EV versions of its Proace people-mover and delivery vans in Europe this year.

“We believe the fastest way to lower greenhouse gases in the transportation sector is to offer drivers lower carbon choices that meet their needs,” said Gill Pratt, chief scientist of Toyota Motor Corporation and CEO of Toyota Research Institute.

“At every price point and with multiple powertrains, we can put more people in cleaner automobiles across North America to have the greatest near-term impact on total carbon emissions.”

Despite today’s announcement, the company still insists that hybrids offer better environmental benefits – and are cheaper to run – than pure-electric vehicles.

It quotes its own internal research that says greenhouse gas emissions “of a currently available BEV [battery-electric vehicle] model and PHEV [plug-in hybrid electric vehicle] model are roughly the same in on-road performance when factoring in pollutants created by electricity production for the average US energy grid used to charge batteries”.

It argues that “PHEV is much less expensive to buy and own, compared to the BEV” and that “without any incentives, the five-year total cost of ownership (TCO) of a long-range BEV is significantly higher than the PHEV”.

“If you include incentives available this year (2020), the TCO of a long-range BEV is much higher,” the company said.

Toyota also today announced it would commence real-world testing of its new fully autonomous EV ‘pod’ called the e-Palette.