Toyota’s plan to conquer the electric market plans to double the current autonomy before quickly switching to solid-state batteries.
Toyota Electric car
After being down on the 100% electric car, Toyota is finally accelerating. The Japanese manufacturer has just unveiled its transition plan for the coming years, and it couldn’t set the bar higher. Objective: get back in the race and regain its place as world leader. It starts in 2026 with an electric car capable of 1,000 km of autonomy and a recharge in 20 minutes. But how does Toyota intend to do so?
In its press release entitled “Let’s change the future of cars”, the manufacturer, through its technical director, Hiroki Nakajima, explains that it has set itself the goal of becoming the world leader in the battery segment. This is the starting point of the recovery strategy. But the Japanese does not only intend to regain control of the accumulators essential to 100% electric vehicles, he intends to impose himself on the next generation of batteries. Thus, the secret of its next vehicles, those supposed to embody the real ambitions of the brand, lies in the progress of their batteries. As such, Toyota is planning a three-step plan:
From 2026: double the current range. The only 100% electric model from Toyota is none other than the bZ4X (announced with 513 km of WLTP autonomy). The manufacturer is currently working on a “Performance” version of its batteries which would make it possible to reach around 1,000 km while reducing the cost of production by 20%. Progress is also announced on the charging side with only 20 minutes to go from 10 to 80%.
Between 2026 and 2027: Toyota wants to develop its own LFP (Lithium iron phosphate) battery. The Japanese’s recipe consists in modifying the way of designing the anodes and cathodes, taking inspiration from what he is currently doing on these hybrid models, the famous “bipolar structure”. The adoption of LFP batteries would allow a vehicle like the bZ4X to improve by 20% in terms of autonomy, but above all to reduce the price of the vehicle by 40%. Toyota is also not ruling out increasing the capacity of LFP batteries to achieve longer ranges.
Between 2027 and 2028: this is undoubtedly the brand’s most ambitious objective. Toyota wants to offer a production electric vehicle with a solid battery. The manufacturer is already working on it and is aiming for two quantified objectives: a range of 1,500 km and a charging time limited to 10 minutes.
Five new models and a new way to design them
Toyota’s plan is clear, but to be even more concrete, these battery technologies will have to be associated with very real cars. Thus, the manufacturer announced, without going into details, a family of five new models on which it wishes to apply its strategy. A compact, a sedan, two SUVs and a minivan are therefore expected on the market.
Toyota also plans to change its production model for this new generation of vehicles. The Japanese group will take inspiration from Tesla to design and produce its models thanks to “giga-presses” and a three-part car division (front, middle, rear). This last element is anything but a surprise, and Toyota isn’t trying to hide where it gets its inspiration from. A few months ago, its engineers distinguished themselves by dissecting a Model Y to qualify its design as a “work of art”. The Japanese manufacturer seems to have come a long way since the days when it denigrated the electric car at the slightest opportunity. The change of management is no stranger to this turnaround, but Koji Sato, the group’s new CEO, does not simply intend to return to the electric race, he wants to dominate it and this requires a most ambitious project. .
Toyota is the first car manufacturer to claim to be able to integrate a solid battery into its vehicles before 2030. Indeed, until now, the indications coming from both battery manufacturers and car manufacturers did not suggest a the arrival of such technology before the end of the decade. It’s a daring bet, but it’s probably the only one Toyota can afford after also postponing its electric transition for so long.
Source: Toyota
