Why Toyota is not yet offering an all-electric car

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Why does the hybrid pioneer not build an electric car?

Why Toyota is not yet offering an all-electric car-all-electric

With the C-HR, Toyota now also wants to benefit from the unbroken trend towards small SUVs. However, you will have to wait a while for a purely electric car from Toyota

Source: Toyota

After a few unsuccessful attempts, Toyota thinks the time is ripe for e-cars. For the developers, this should be a breeze with their hybrid experience. But it doesn’t seem that easy.

Kor an automaker has more experience with electric drives than Toyota. The Prius has been on the market for 20 years and is now also available as a plug-in hybrid. Then there is the Mirai fuel cell sedan, which has also been available in Germany since the end of 2015 – at least in theory. In practice, hardly anyone has seen a Mirai on the street so far.

From the hybrid cars from Toyota and Premium subsidiary Lexus, however, around nine million are on the road worldwide. This makes the group the undisputed market leader in alternative drives. Nevertheless, Japan’s largest automobile manufacturer has so far not been offering its customers a battery-electric vehicle like the one Smart does, like Renault, BMW, Opel and Volkswagen do.

Why not? From the official side it was already said in 2012: You see the pure electric drive more for scooters and mobility aids. At Toyota, the hybrid has priority.

The matter now seems to be reconsidered. In the future, electric cars should to be developed in a new division, a merger of TMC (Toyota Motor Corporation) with the suppliers Toyota Industries, Aisin Seiki and Denso.

Comprehensive network of e-charging stations planned by 2018

Car companies and service station operators want to build a nationwide network of e-filling stations by 2018. 60,000 electric cars are already rolling on German roads – despite steep prices. Source: The World

This in-house joint venture has the opportunity to draw on the entire know-how and resources of the group and, according to President Akio Toyoda, serves as an “innovation driver”. The first EVs (Electric Vehicles) should be on the road in three years, just in time for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Like all hybrid models, they will be based on the newly developed TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture) platform. The Prius and the recently introduced crossover C-HR are already on it.

There have already been a few tender attempts at Toyota to bring all-electric cars onto the market. In 2009, for example, the EV study of an IQ was presented at the Detroit Motor Show. At that time, it was announced that a production model would be launched in 2012. In fact, there was a prototype (premiered in Paris), but the project was discontinued.

The Toyota RAV4 was briefly available as an electric car

One can react at any time if the market demands it, it was said rather defensively from the European headquarters in Brussels. In 2010, Toyota invested around $ 100 million in Tesla, California. The aim was to develop an electric RAV4. The plan was to produce 2,600 units over three years. If you go back further, you end up with 1997. At that time Toyota offered a limited small series of RAV4 on.

The competition was certainly not uninvolved in the new announcement of building electric cars on a large scale: In 2017, Chevrolet will launch the Bolt on the American market, which is extremely important for Toyota, and Opel will launch the Ampera-e in Europe. A range of up to 500 kilometers is promised.

Smart comes with two electrically powered city cars. Nissan is renewing its Leaf in 2018, The bestseller among electric cars worldwide with over 250,000 units. Partner Renault has successfully had the Zoe on the road for years. The French PSA group wants to offer electrically powered compact models and crossovers from 2019.

The taxi future is rolling in Sweden

Small, yellow, electric: this is what the future of the taxi could look like. In Gothenburg, Sweden, the electric speedsters bring customers from A to B. They will soon also be on the road in Stockholm. Source: The World

And Korea is also moving along. Hyundai now has the Ioniq in stores and is coming in 2018 with the Tuscon Fuel Cell. Daughter Kia sells the Soul EV.

At the same time, Toyota is consistently pursuing its global hybrid strategy and reducing diesel engines in Europe. It seems to be working out. The Yaris small car – the new generation is coming in 2017 – already drives without diesel. 40 percent of buyers opt for a hybrid drive.

In the Golf class, the Auris drives up again with a hybrid. It is quite possible that the next Avensis (we only have it as a station wagon) will use this technology. Toyota‘s engineers have calculated that from the first Prius in 1997 to the present day, all hybrid models sold have saved around 67 million tons of CO2 compared to conventional cars in their class.

Toyota also continues to develop conventional engines

It should be exciting with the Supra, which Toyota is developing together with BMW and on the basis of which the Bavarians are building their next Z4 Roadster. The Supra, on the other hand, remains a coupe and should make its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show in autumn 2017 after 16 years of abstinence and go on sale in 2018.

According to the latest information, a biturbo V6 hybrid is planned as the top engine. Quite a few industry insiders even speculate that BMW is contributing its straight-six. With regard to crash tests and the design of the front end, this would make more sense in terms of costs. Whether the typical Supra customer goes along with the deal is another matter.

Of course, Toyota is not only developing its hybrid technology, but also its conventional engines. And not too short. By the end of 2021, a total of nine engines in 17 versions, four transmissions in ten versions and six hybrid systems in ten versions are to come onto the market.

With these cars you drive in an environmentally friendly way

The ADAC has tightened its eco-test, which has been carried out for years. This time the tests were carried out not only in the laboratory, but also under real conditions in the city and on highways. Source: The World

It all started in 2017 with a 2.5-liter gasoline engine, which is said to have one of the world’s highest thermal efficiencies at 40 percent of the gasoline engines in its class. The four-cylinder will initially be used in the Camry. The mid-size sedan celebrated its premiere at the Detroit auto show. This engine is also designed for hybrid use.

According to internal planning, at least 60 percent of all Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in Japan, China, Europe and the USA should be equipped with the new drives as early as 2021. Until then, the aim is to reduce fleet CO2 emissions by at least 15 percent.

And there is also a distant goal: By 2050, Toyota plans to reduce the CO2 emissions of all new vehicles sold by 90 percent and to operate all of its factories in a CO2-neutral manner.

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7 thoughts on “Why Toyota is not yet offering an all-electric car”

  1. Since the e-car advocates have not yet told us where all the electricity for the cars should come from, a hybrid is a good alternative. E-cars are more of a utopia when you consider where all the green electricity should come from!

    Reply

  2. When it comes to hybrids other than Germany with its special traffic conditions, Toyota is at the forefront. The Toyota principle of using a planetary gear drive in a dynamic way is basically ingenious. Unfortunately the "surface" perceived as a CVT transmission, which is more than something that needs getting used to, especially in the hectic German traffic. The Germans are now switching over to the hybrid "normal" Automatic transmission or via DSG together with the combustion engine. This results in the familiar surface and not a roar of the engine when accelerating hard. There are no secrets in electric motor construction anywhere in the world. The batteries are tied. So Toyata is no further with pure e-cars and neither is it with plug-in hybrids. The lead is reduced to hybrids without "Plug-in"!

    Reply

  3. because it is not mature!
    E.g. if you buy a laptop the battery is down in 6 months!
    then what does the battery cost for the car??
    hybrit is a very good idea!

    the cars are so often in traffic jams in the cities a hybrid is very effective.
    Reply

  4. Toyota is already building an electrically powered car in series. The article even mentions it: it’s the Mirai. Range like a normal car, charging the energy storage as well.
    Or is it just a matter of abandoning the concept with significantly more potential for the sake of the battery lobby?

    Reply

  5. "In practice, hardly anyone has seen a Mirai on the street so far."
    Sleight of hand. Toyota had planned exactly 20 Mirai for open sale in 2016. With around 30 hydrogen filling stations nationwide, anything else would have been pointless.

    Reply

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