Toyota to Invest Billions in Batteries by 2030

(Credit: Toyota)

by | Sep 7, 2021

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(Credit: Toyota)

Toyota Motor Corporation announced it plans invest more than $13.6 billion in batteries and battery production by 2030, with a goal of reducing the costs of battery technology for electric vehicles (EV) by as much as 50% as well as to develop a supply system that provides flexibility in production to meet increasing demand of the products.

As Toyota continues to move toward carbon neutrality, it is focused on rapid electrification and says one battery electric BEV has the emission reduction impact of three hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). By developing better batteries and becoming more efficient in production, the company expects to reduce the cost of a single battery by 30%. By doing so it plans to integrate low-cost materials such as cobalt-free, nickel-free and new electrode items into batteries. The company says it also wants to achieve a greater battery capacity while improving safety and lifespan.

Toyota says by achieving a 30% improvement in battery efficiency it can also decrease battery capacity by the same amount. Toyota expects that will also improve the power of the batteries from current ranges of 180 GWh to more than 200 GWh.

The company says the initiative is focused on developing better technology and solid-state batteries. Solid-state batteries would help improve output, cruising range and provide shorter charging times in addition to being safer, the company says.

Toyota developed a solid-state battery operated vehicle in 2020, but says it is still working on how long the batteries last, improved and increased production capabilities and the materials used in solid-state batteries. Toyota says the use of the battery is key to establishing widespread use of BEVs.

Solid-state batteries could eventually replace the use of lithium-ion batteries for EVs, but Toyota says it is continuing to improve the cost, endurance and safety of that type of battery for its BEVs moving forward. Toyota plans to introduce a new type of lithium-ion batteries by the second half of the 2020s.

The company isn’t alone in investing greatly with a goal to increase the use of EV in the industry. General Motors has pledged to increase its funding of EV by $35 million by 2025, including developing 30 new EVs. Honda also wants 100% of its sales to be BEVs and FCEVs by 2040.

Since releasing the first Prius in 1997 Toyota said its HEV sales have reached 18.1 million units. It is using what it has learned in years of producing energy efficient vehicles to help in producing better batteries for its new plan and as it grows its EV offoring. Toyota is releasing the bz4X in mid-2022, the first model of its BEV bz series.

It expects to sell 8 million units of electric vehicles by 2030, with 2 million of those being BEVs and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV).

Toyota’s partners in developing its battery goal include Panasonic, Toshiba, Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, EV Energy and FinDreams Battery. Toyota says it wants to strengthen its collaborations and complete a rapid start up of production within the Toyota Group.

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