Toyota is serious about cutting CO2 emissions
Toyota has become the recent car giant to toss its whole weight behind electric vehicles, saying each Toyota or Lexus model will consist an electric option by 2025.
The company took a lead on competitors 20 years ago with the launch of its Prius hybrid, which uses a standard engine and electric motor systems, however presently the automaker has no all-electric vehicles.
As part of the new plan Toyota, which sold 10.2 million vehicles last year, stated that by 2030 it aimed to have yearly sales of 5.5 million “electrified vehicles”, which have either battery, fuel cell, or hybrid power systems. Of these, 1 million are going to be zero-emission vehicles.
Toyota has earlier stated that under its 2050 “environmental challenge” initiative, it has set itself a “mid to long-term” target of decreasing CO2 emissions from new cars by 90pc from 2010 levels.
Shigeki Terashi, executive vice-president, stated the automaker’s new electric vehicles would first go on sale in China. The Beijing government provides subsidies to motivate the advancement of the technology and the nation is a leader in the sale of electric vehicles. A “gradual introduction” of the automaker’s electric vehicles in Japan, India, the United States and Europe is also anticipated.
Recently Toyota announced a tie-up with Panasonic to develop batteries and Mr Terashi referred this partnership as an important piece of the electrification plans.
The Mirai, the first mass-produced fuel-cell vehicle is powered by liquid hydrogen, was developed by the automaker and is also keen to expand using this kind of power.
Social facilities around electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles and how they can be motivated is also being examined. Preparation for this include developing a system to make it more effective to reuse batteries, in addition to the introduction of more charging points and hydrogen refuelling stations.
The automaker will invest 1.5 trillion yen (nearly 13.4 billion) to attain its green goals, with half of this quantity being spent on developing batteries.
Toyota’s announcement makes it the most recent auto company to say electric vehicles will be available throughout its whole range. In July Volvo made headings when it became the first of the major automakers to do so.
