Toyota ramps up EV plans

Toyota has revealed plans to increase its electric vehicle (EV) line-up and launch 30 new fully electric models by 2030.

The announcement doubles the 15 new EV models the Japanese carmaker previously planned to create by 2025.

Toyota says it aims to sell 3.5 million EVs a year globally in 2030 and it will increase its investment in battery development to ¥2 trillion ($26 billion) from the ¥1.5tn previously announced.

When including other green technologies, such as hybrids, Toyota is investing ¥8tn over the next eight years.

Akio Toyoda, president, outlined the company’s strategy during a press conference on December 14 where 15 concepts for upcoming Toyota and Lexus EVs were on show. The range of vehicles included sedans, SUVs, a ute, pictured below, and a supercar.

He adds the company is pursuing a multi-pronged, carbon-reduction approach that includes hybrid cars and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

“The situation around energy differs from region to region,” he says. “Therefore, Toyota wants to meet the situation and needs of different countries and regions by offering various choices in terms of carbon neutrality.

“We want to leave all people with a choice, and rather than where or what we will focus on, we will wait a little longer until we understand where the market is going.”

For the new line-up of 30 EV models, Toyota will invest ¥4tn by 2030. It will be part of an overall investment of ¥8tn in EVs, including hybrids and hydrogen vehicles, by the end of the decade.

Details of individual vehicles have yet to be released but Toyoda says the Lexus luxury brand will become fully electric by 2035.

Toyota has hastened its push to further electrify its line-up in recent months and has promised it will be ready to sell only zero-emissions cars in Europe by 2035.

Despite the increasing focus on pure electric models, Toyota forecasts higher demand in the US for its petrol-electric hybrid vehicles over the coming decade.