Toyota, the world's largest car manufacturer, is broadening its horizons: alongside its well-known hybrid and hydrogen vehicles, it will now introduce new electric cars. The first model, expected to debut in 2020, will have a range of at least 300 kilometres.
When a vessel has been sailing a successful course for many years, that does not mean it will forgo exploring new seas and steering its prow towards different shores. The vessel in question is Toyota which, having become the leader in the hybrid car market and having introduced one of the first production vehicles powered by hydrogen — namely the Mirai saloon — is now unfolding the third petal of sustainable mobility by turning its attention to electric propulsion. A broadening of horizons that will, within a few years, deliver a further, powerful boost towards reducing emissions, given that Toyota is the world's largest manufacturer and can count on economies of scale unattainable by the vast majority of its competitors, all to the benefit of reducing the price of battery-powered vehicles.
The Japanese manufacturer has created an internal start-up tasked with developing the new electric vehicles. A working group made up of experts and engineers from three prominent Japanese organisations: Toyota itself, Aisin, a transmission specialist, and Denso, a manufacturer of components and energy storage systems. A lean structure, at the head of which has been placed none other than Akio Toyoda, president and chief executive of the Japanese giant and grandson of its founder, Sakichi Toyoda. A heavyweight capable of making operational decisions on every aspect of the project, so as to define in short — indeed very short — order the key characteristics of the new car family, whose first model — in all likelihood an SUV — is expected to debut by 2020. The target range has not yet been revealed, but as reported by the Japanese magazine Nikkei, a real-world range of 300 kilometres per charge is anticipated. Crucial in this regard will be the transition from nickel-metal hydride cells to lithium-ion batteries, more modern and higher-performing, introduced for the first time in the new Toyota Prius Hybrid Plug-In, unveiled at the recent Paris Motor Show.
The electric diversification being pursued by Toyota — which follows the records it has achieved in the field of hybrid propulsion and through fuel cells — stems from the differing needs of various markets and, above all, from the recognition that the infrastructure existing in most parts of the world is close to guaranteeing a widespread charging network for battery-powered cars, yet still far from making hydrogen refuelling widely available. In addition, in the United States the low price of fuel has revived conventional vehicles and those looking for an eco-friendly vehicle appear to prefer a 100 per cent electric solution over hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains. Not least, Toyota intends to respond as quickly as possible to the offensive from Volkswagen — the world's second-largest manufacturer by vehicle volumes — which plans to present, by 2025, a new family of battery-powered vehicles comprising no fewer than ten models, set to progressively cover a quarter of the Wolfsburg Group's sales. The Japanese company must therefore move quickly, especially considering that the Tokyo Olympics, of which it is a sponsor, are scheduled for 2020 and will constitute an exceptional stage for the new zero-emission models.
This is not, in any case, an absolute first for Toyota, given that the company had already produced electric cars in the past. Its most recent battery-powered model, to be precise, remained in production from 2012 to 2014 and exclusively for California. This was the second generation of the RAV4 EV SUV, built in 2,600 units in partnership with Tesla — which supplied the battery packs — and rated at a range of just under 200 kilometres. The experiment did not work out, as the Japanese giant deemed the market for battery-powered vehicles still too immature and the range offered by the batteries of that era too limited. Today, everything has changed. From 2020, Toyota will produce electric vehicles at affordable prices. Will there be a new sheriff in town?