Toyota Makes Big Claims About EV Development Scheme
While Toyota Motor Corp is known for casting a wide net and acting cautiously, it recently made some fairly lofty statements about its strategy regarding all-electric vehicles. Despite the brand offering the humble bZ4X as its singular EV on the North American market, Toyota is suggesting subsequent models driving ranges that model would envy.
The single-motor version of the bZ4X (pictured) is theoretically capable of 250 miles between recharges. Meanwhile, the all-wheel drive version is lucky to surpass 200 miles under anything the most idyllic conditions. However, Toyota recently published a video where BEV Factory President Takero Kato stated that the company was currently developing technologies that would yield EVs capable of doing over 600 miles before needing a break.
The presentation itself was rather humble. But the brand isn’t known for jaw-dropping announcements or even focusing on electrification. It wasn’t all that long ago when Toyota was still acting skeptical about all-electric automobiles. One could even argue that it still seems to be of two minds about the likelihood of BEVs becoming the dominant mode of transport across the entire planet.
Still, it’s been making formal commitments of late and jumping on some of the obligatory trends that are sweeping through the industry — most of which were noted in the presentation.
Toyota’s overarching plan for EVs involves tapping artificial intelligence to help design more streamlined shapes offering improved aerodynamics and better efficiency. When paired with next-generation, lithium-ion batteries, the brand believes it should be able to offer competitive ranges. But the firm has also been talking about developing solid-state batteries for years. Once they’ve arrived, it’s possible that we’ll see ranges more than double what’s normal today and significantly reduced charging times.
Kato suggested that the brand’s upcoming batteries would be capable of ranges around 1,000 km (or about 620 miles) on a single charge. However, the aspect that’ll undoubtedly be making the brand the most bank is the widespread implementation of over-the-air (OTA) updates. This is the feature the industry most wants to implement, as it’s broadly seen as a way to normalize subscription-based services.
In exchange for the new revenue streams, automakers plan on offering loads of customization and partnered programs allowing other brands to market additional features to vehicle owners. But some are already leveraging OTA updates to lock existing hardware (already equipped to the vehicle) behind paywalls. The scheme runs the risk of being exceedingly greedy and may find the public has little tolerance for being bled to death during an era of economic distress.
The executive hinted that the technology could be used to help deliver a “manual EV” that would deliver enhanced driving enjoyment. But little was clarified about the would-be product. Our guess is that Toyota has considered fielding an electric car with the ability for drivers to option a simulated shifting experience via OTA updates. Though we’re just guessing and going off an earlier patent where the company presented a software-based manual transmission for electric motors.
The automaker is also considering how to streamline production using modular EV designs. This is another item that’s becoming relatively common across the industry. One of the major benefits of battery-powered vehicles is that final assembly is comparatively simple (requiring fewer employees) and the brand says it plans to have its next batch of EVs be manufactured using three major components.
Front and rear vehicle sections will house electric motors and sandwich structurally relevant battery packs that can be swapped out easily as the technology advances. Toyota said it would use “giga casting” which is likely akin to Tesla’s “Giga Press” which allows for exceptionally large die-cast aluminum pieces. Kato said the company expects the process to significantly reduce costs for vehicle development and plant investment over time.
The other component of Toyota’s electrification plan involves the implementation of widespread factory automation, with Kato briefly discussing the matter as if it’s the same as self-driving technology. Everything else was going to come down to collaborative partnerships and how labor would be organized (often in tandem with artificial intelligence) to produce the maximum amount of synergy.
Toyota is anticipating 1.5 million annual BEV sales starting in 2026. By 2030, that target is expected to jump to 1.7 million units. The company also recently announced plans to invest almost $50 million to establish a battery lab at its North American R&D facility located in Michigan.
While a lot of the above is not unique, since most legacy manufacturers are vying to accomplish something similar, seeing Toyota enter the fray does suggest that battery electric vehicles are here to stay. Regulatory efforts are certainly driving the issue to a point the industry cannot ignore. But automakers, even the holdouts, are making sweeping plans to ensure their all-electric divisions are taken seriously.
That said, self-driving has fallen short of expectations and artificial intelligence seems like the new buzzword for all industries. Take everything any manufacturer says with a grain of salt until you've seen the finished product.
[Images: Toyota]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
More by Matt Posky
Comments
Join the conversation
I posted early a response that was deleted for no reason about Tesla. It took Tesla over 17 years to be profitable and much of Tesla's profits came from selling carbon credits as much as 2 billion carbon credits in 2022. Stellantis itself has bought over 2.4 billion dollars worth of credits from Tesla from 2019 to 2021. Ford, GM, and Stellantis over the last few years have spend billions of dollars buying carbon credits. If GM, Ford, and Stellantis are spending billions of dollars on carbon credits and the price of these credits continues to rise then they are more likely to invest in EVs and to increase the fuel efficiency of their existing ICE vehicles in order to pay less carbon credits. This is not to diminish what accomplishments Tesla has made but if someone expects GM and Ford to immediately make a profit on EVs after spending large outlays of funds on retooling existing plants to make EVs, building battery plants, and the cost of designing and bringing to market a new EV then they don't really know much about how auto companies operate. It will take years to recover costs and the costs will be amortized over a period of time. Developing and selling a new product takes time and resources. Developing an EV from a company that makes only ICE vehicles is much different than just developing a new ICE product like the Mustang, Taurus, and Maverick there are much higher costs involved. Ford at least was being honest about their initial losses on EVs and it will take a number of years to make a profit but Ford itself is making money on their trucks. The same is true with GM as well. There is a difference between planning for the short term and planning for the long term and both Ford and GM are planning for the long term on EVs.
Matt you should do an article on the cost of carbon credits for the major auto manufacturers. It would help the average reader understand why manufacturers like Ford and GM are gearing up to make EVs and why Stellantis is dropping the Hemi V-8. There are reasons well beyond altruistic motives and we all can argue Government regulations and politics but those have both been involved in the auto industry for over 70 years. The trend is more regulations and that is not just in the US but in Europe and globally. Auto companies have to deal with what is happening now and what the long term trends will be which tend to be toward more regulations in regards to safety, reducing emissions, and more efficiency in vehicles.