Toyota to Invest N3.71 Trillion in Electric Vehicle Battery Plants

Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday that it expects to invest more than N3.71 Trillion on developing batteries and its battery supply chain by 2030, in order to maintain a lead in the crucial automotive technology over the next decade.

The world’s largest manufacturer by volume, which popularized hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles with the Prius, is on track to offer its first all-electric lineup next year.

Toyota, a pioneer in the development of electric car batteries, said it hoped to reduce the cost of its batteries by 30% or more by improving the materials used and the structure of the cells.

“Then, for the vehicle, we aim to improve power consumption,” Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda said at a press conference, “which is an indicator of the amount of electricity used per kilometre, by 30%, starting with the Toyota bZ4X,”

Solid-state batteries, which are more energy-dense, charge faster, and are less prone to catching fire, are a potential game-changer for automakers because they are more energy-dense, charge faster, and are less prone to catching fire. They could eventually replace liquid lithium-ion batteries if they are successfully developed.

Despite the fact that the short service life of these cells continues to be a problem, Toyota’s goal of developing solid-state batteries by the mid-2020s remains unchanged, according to Maeda.

He remarked, “We’re currently looking for the best materials to employ.” Solid-state batteries are expensive to build and are prone to cracking as they expand and compress during usage, thus efforts to mass-produce them have stalled.

Toyota also stated that solid-state batteries would be used in hybrid electric vehicles such as the Prius. Volkswagen, the world’s second-largest automaker, said on Tuesday that it may have to spend more money to complete its planned transition to autonomous driving and electric vehicles.