Toyota is coming back into electric cars. Rather than playing catch-up with everyone else – Toyota may be the last major company in the entire automotive industry to put out an EV – it is apparently trying to outdo everyone else on its first attempt. The company announced that its next generation of EV batteries will have a range of up to 497 miles. For reference, most EVs tend to top out around 250 to 300 miles. After a decade of apparently avoiding EVs, Toyota is now injecting extravagant amounts of money into developing them. The company has announced that it intends to spend over $70 billion on electrifying its cars by 2030. In the near future than the end of the decade, it intends to offer an electric or hybrid version of every vehicle in its lineup by 2025.
Toyota’s 497-Mile Battery: What We Know So Far
While it’s tempting to speculate that Toyota will soon put its solid-state batteries into actual roadworthy cars, the company is not putting them into cars yet. Toyota executive vice president Hiroki Nakajima stated that Toyota will achieve 497 miles per charge by using “far greater efficiency,” but provided no further detail at that conference. The company’s website states that Toyota will be using what it calls a “Performance Li-Ion battery.” This is a lithium iron phosphate battery, not the futuristic solid-state one that periodically pops up in Toyota press releases. Solid-state batteries are still in the works, but not scheduled to hit the road until a few years later on.
Toyota’s new batteries are part of a new EV platform. The company is taking a radical leap away from its previous technological conservatism and switching to giga-casting for its electric vehicles. Toyota intends to launch a full lineup of EVs in 2026, and plans to produce 1.7 million EVs by 2030.
Toyota’s first generation of solid-state batteries are scheduled for mass deployment in 2027. Looking further to the future, Toyota is already planning a second generation of solid-state EV batteries, which are officially scheduled to be used on the date of “TBD.” While it may be tempting to deride the automaker for its inability to schedule its own products, one cannot put scientific study on a rigid timetable. While some companies have working prototype solid-state car batteries, the technology still isn’t ready for the production line.
Toyota’s Hit-And-Miss History With EVs
Toyota’s history with EVs has been spectacular (if inconsistent). The company hit pay dirt when it produced the world’s first successful hybrid car. Obviously, Toyota didn’t invent hybrid cars. But no prior company had turned a profit on them. This radical new powertrain proved to be a massive hit with the public despite Toyota’s unfortunate design choices; the first Prius looked like the four-wheeled embodiment of someone apologetically mumbling “it gets good gas mileage”. Toyota has since expanded its hybrid lineup to include trucks, SUVs, sedans, hatchbacks, and minivans.
Having successfully put electric motors into powertrains, Toyota seemed to falter for several years. It seemed like no one in the design department had the courage to let the motor propel the car without an internal combustion engine alongside it. The company’s one desultory attempt at an EV was an electric RAV4, introduced in 2012, which had a near-useless range of 103 miles and a production run of only two years. Instead of battery-electric vehicles, Toyota decided to pursue hydrogen fuel cells. This resulted in the Mirai sedan, which has become the de-facto flagship of hydrogen cars. Toyota has also developed or co-developed hydrogen fuel cell systems for commercial trucks, and has recently shown a prototype hydrogen-powered Hilux pickup truck.
Toyota re-entered the EV game in 2023 with the bZ4X electric SUV. The bZ4X is a perfectly competent middle-of-the-road electric SUV and no more (though since it’s made by Toyota, it will probably reach half a million miles easily).
After years of apparently swearing fealty to hydrogen at the expense of everything else, Toyota stated that it was developing a car-worthy solid-state battery.
While solid-state batteries have been in use for decades, they defy all attempts to make them power a car. This was an astonishing announcement from a company known for resolutely avoiding any technology that didn’t have at least 20 years of extensive testing. Toyota, the automotive stalwart of all that is pedestrian and reliable, is leaping so far ahead in EVs that science hasn’t caught up yet.
When It Comes To EVs, Where Is Toyota Now?
Toyota has an EV in production (just one). For the time being, the company is primarily devoting its factory space to hybrids and hydrogen. Perhaps as a result of self-consciousness about falling behind the competition with EVs, Toyota’s website has united its hybrids, its FCEVs, and the bZ4X under the heading “electrified vehicles.” It’s only one syllable removed from “electric vehicles,” which may serve to briefly hide the shortage of Toyota EV options. Aside from the bZ4X, Toyota seems to be focusing on future BEVs instead of building them for the present.
Between the solid-state batteries and giga-cast car frames, Toyota is taking an unexpectedly giddy leap onto the bleeding edge. Moving away from BEVs, Toyota continues to believe in the future of hydrogen cars with a sincerity that is almost charming. In this case, the company isn’t planning for technology that isn’t roadworthy yet. Instead, Toyota is building cars for an entire fueling infrastructure that does not exist yet.
Regardless of whether Toyota uses a battery or a hydrogen fuel cell system to power a car’s electric motor, it’s obvious that the company is planning vehicles for future customers instead of the people wandering onto dealer lots today. While this may seem ill-advised, it’s worth noting that Toyota is currently the top car seller in the world for the third year in a row. Toyota is financially well-placed to embark on projects that won’t turn a profit for five or 10 years, and is taking full advantage of the money.
Toyota Is Preparing For Tomorrow
Toyota’s apparent antipathy toward EVs has evaporated, though the company has chosen an interesting course as it gets into the EV market. Instead of trying to catch up to everyone else, Toyota is trying to preemptively beat the competition of the near(ish) future. While one may want to spitefully speculate that the company for planning tomorrow’s sales at the expense of today, Toyota has more than enough money to allow its projects several years before they pay off.
This kind of long-term thinking is part of why Toyota is a consistent top seller, and why American car companies (which frantically rush from quarter to quarter, with the end of the next year too far away to see) seem to need a bailout whenever the economy takes a dip. While Toyota’s sole production EV (as of this writing) is an unremarkable middle-of-the-road family hauler, the company’s real EV push is yet to come. Toyota is not a threat to any other EV manufacturer for the moment, but its future is formidable.
