"Conservative" Toyota has finally chosen to open its arms and embrace electric vehicles.
On December 14, at the electric vehicle strategy conference held by Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda announced that by 2030, Toyota will launch 30 pure electric vehicles, and will invest a total of 8 trillion yen (about 447.8 billion yuan) by 2030 to develop full-product electric vehicles, including technology research and development, equipment investment, etc.
Previously, Akio Toyoda has been cautious about the development of electric vehicles, and this large investment means that its attitude has changed. At the press conference, Akio Toyoda also said: "The efficiency of the motor far exceeds that of the internal combustion engine. ”
In the field of pure electric power, Toyota plans to spend 4 trillion yen (about 223.9 billion yuan) in the field of pure electric power. In addition, it will increase spending on battery research and production to 2 trillion yen, up from 1.5 trillion yen announced in September this year. It also plans to build a battery plant in North Carolina, USA.
"It's not that we're going to run out of all of this money, but it shows that we're ready," Toyota Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda said at the launch.
According to Toyota's plan, it will continue to expand the selection of "carbon neutral" models by introducing electric vehicle models. Toyota is expected to achieve its goal of selling 3.5 million electric vehicles worldwide annually by 2030. This figure is an increase of 1.5 million units worldwide (including fuel cell models) from the 2 million vehicles set in May this year.
At the strategy conference, Toyota unveiled 16 electrified models that are expected to be launched by 2025-2026. Toyota said it will continue to provide a full range of products such as HEVs, PHEV and FCEVs in the future.
Toyota also expects that by 2030, all models of Toyota's Lexus brand will be 100% electrified in the United States, China and Europe, and reach the goal of 1 million units sold worldwide. By 2035, 100% of the worldwide sales of electric models will be realized.
At present, the Toyota brand has launched about 100 kinds of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and fuel cell vehicles in more than 170 countries and regions. The Lexus brand has also launched about 30 traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles in more than 90 countries and regions.
From the current layout, Toyota is not only a pioneer of hybrid vehicles, but also through this conference, we can also see the change in Toyota's attitude towards the development of electrification. But overall, Toyota's current electrification process is slower than some mainstream competitors, and it may still need to be accelerated in the later stage.