Toyota Announces BEV Battery Roadmap

Out of all the large vehicle manufacturers, Toyota was the one that originally stood out from the rest by not fully committing to the electrification of its product line. Despite being a pioneer in EV technology, launching its RAV4 EV originally in 1997, and developing the Prius, which was perhaps the world’s first mass market hybrid vehicle with millions of sales, the world’s second largest car manufacturer last year has always said it wanted to keep its options open, and at one stage looked to be placing more emphasis on hydrogen technology than electric. However, the company is now looking to catch up and perhaps even overtake its rivals with new electric battery designs.

Toyota has recently made several new announcements on battery technology, along with a future roadmap for the upcoming five years. The first bit of news is that the company is developing a new battery technology that it expects will be available from 2026 and provide its next generation of EVs with a range of up to 621 miles. The gains will come from increasing the battery’s energy density and reducing its weight. Improved aerodynamics will also help contribute to the longer range. It is estimated that the new battery will be 20% cheaper than the company’s current bZ4X battery and will charge from 10 to 80% in around 20 minutes.

The second announcement from Toyota is on the work that the company is doing on cheaper batteries for the lower end of the market. One of the main stumbling blocks to mass adoption of EVs is the cost of the battery pack, which makes up a significant proportion of the total cost of the vehicle. To that end, Toyota is working on a lower cost battery using the bipolar structure battery found in the company’s Aqua and Crown hybrid models. The company will now adapt the technology to full EV designs. The new battery will be based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology and Toyota expects it to be ready for sale around 2026. It claims the cost-effective battery will provide 375 miles range, which is 20% more than the bZ4X, but will cost 40% less. It will recharge from 10 to 80% in under 30 minutes.

The company's third announcement looks a little further into the future and concerns solid-state batteries, which will further increase power density and make the batteries safer. Toyota claims to have made a breakthrough that will solve the durability issue that has prevented solid-state batteries becoming viable alternatives to current technology. Toyota will initially develop solid-state batteries for its hybrid fleet before transferring the technology to full EVs. The new batteries should be ready for commercialization around 2027. They will deliver a further 20% improvement in range over the new 621 mile batteries giving a total range of 745 miles, and charge from 10% to 80% in under 10 minutes. The company is also developing a higher specification version of the new solid-state battery at the same time, which it expects to provide a range of up to 932 miles.