Toyota has shared its plans regarding the continued improvement of EV battery designs. The company expects to stay committed to power cell R&D until 2030 and ultimately produce batteries giving cars up to 1,200 km (745 miles) of range per charge. The first major technological upgrade should reach the mass market around 2026.
The automotive corporation pursues two development directions – high-tech, high-range traction battery packs and lighter, cheaper battery packs for vehicles that don’t need much range. It looks like the first direction is being prioritized right now.
In three years, the company plans to unveil an all-electric vehicle with a lithium-ion battery pack rated at 800 km (497 miles) of range while being 20% cheaper than the battery of the current bZ4X model (see the gallery and the video).
A lithium-ferro-phosphate battery rated at 600 km (373 mi) is expected to emerge a year later and cost 40% less. As a downside, it will take 30 minutes to top up as opposed to the li-ion pack’s 20 minutes.
By 2028, Toyota plans to design a battery good for 1,000 km (621 miles) of uninterrupted driving and cut the production costs by a further 10%. It hopes to implement solid-state battery tech in mass-produced cars at roughly the same time. Solid-state batteries will be substantially more expensive than traditional designs, but will recharge in mere 10 minutes and may have anywhere between 1,000–1,500 km (621–932 miles) of range, according to rumors. Toyota itself doesn’t say when it may be ready to start shipping EVs with this innovative type of power storage.