Toyota commits to $70 billion in the electric vehicle lineup. Further announces that they expect around 3.5 billion sales of BEVs by the end of the decade. This is comparatively lower than its rivals like Volkswagen. Relatively latecomer to the EV shift goals, the company seems to be making a cautious entry into the market.
Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo surrounded by more than a dozen planned BEV models, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said his company was still pursuing a multi-pronged, carbon-reduction strategy that also includes hybrid cars and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Toyota’s announcement comes as traditional automobile firms increasingly take on Tesla, which has become the most valuable carmaker this year. Tesla’s market value reached over $1 trillion in October, surpassing the combined value of Toyota, VW, Daimler AG, Ford Motor, and General Motors Co.
“We want to leave all people with a choice, and rather than where or what we will focus on, we will wait a little longer until we understand where the market is going,” Toyoda said.
His company’s plan to introduce a full line-up of 30 BEV’s by 2030 goes beyond the 15 models Toyota earlier said it would have available by 2025. The Japanese carmaker on Tuesday also said it planned to invest 2 trillion yen in battery production by 2030, up from the 1.5 trillion yen it announced earlier. According to a study published by the Munich Mobility Show in April, there are huge global disparities in electric vehicle ownership. Sales are soaring in the European Union, China, and the United States. But cumulative electric car registrations through 2020 in South America, with a population of more than 420 million, were below 18,000. And registrations in Africa, home to 1.2 billion people, were exclusively in South Africa and totaled just 1,509 cars through 2020. Large parts of the world are not ready for zero-emission vehicles, which is why Toyota did not sign a pledge to phase out fossil-fuel cars by 2040.
The investment includes $1.29 billion for a new battery plant in North Carolina that will begin production in 2025. EVs still only account for a small portion of car sales, but the market is growing rapidly, with new registrations up 41% in 2020 even as the global car market contracted by a sixth that year. That investment includes $1.29 billion for a new battery plant in North Carolina that will begin production in 2025.
EVs still only account for a small portion of car sales, but the market is growing rapidly, with new registrations up 41% in 2020 even as the global car market contracted by a sixth that year.
Credits- Reuters
