In recent years, All in electric vehicles have always been considered to be the car company's sincere commitment to new energy zui, giving everything it had, desperately, with a bit of heroism, and desperate bravery.
Just as the "new forces" are willing to invest heavily in losses, and independent brands are also building subsidiaries to smash the market, it is more like a benchmark for success.
But Toyota will never be on this all-in list. In the electrified car market, Toyota has always been regarded as a "not hurried" car company, and even seems to the outside world that Toyota is lagging behind in the pace of pure electricity.
But in fact, Toyota has been constantly laying out electrification, but they have walked an unconventional, unfollowed path at their own pace.
When Toyoda handed over the company to current president Tsuji Sato in February this year, the market finally confirmed Toyota's attitude towards electrification, and they were willing to embrace it.
In June this year, Toyota held a technical briefing called "Toyota Tecnical Workshop 2023" in Japan, which gave the market a better understanding of Toyota's specific goals and plans.
It is not that it does not embrace electrification, it just wants to embrace electrification with a "diversified" technology path.
Not long ago, the new president of Toyota Motor Tsuneji Sato also stressed that Toyota will not shift its focus to pure electric vehicles in one fell swoop, but will provide a "comprehensive strategy" of hybrid electric vehicles (HVs) and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) and other options according to the characteristics of each country and region.
You may never see Toyota in pure electric vehicles, but if you understand Toyota's technical layout and goals, you will find that Toyota, which seems to "swing" in the wave of electrification, has never stopped moving forward, and at this moment when the victory and defeat have not yet been divided, no one can underestimate Toyota's stamina in the field of electrification.
There is no shortage of technical capabilities
For a long time, in the electrification market, traditional car companies are clearly overwhelmed by the "new forces", the main reason is that the "new forces" have no historical baggage, most of them with the recklessness of the Internet industry, crazy sprint, compared with the traditional car companies appear "ship difficult to turn around", more stable but also considered to be unable to keep up with the pace of the times.
However, since 2022, traditional car companies have finally seen the certainty and riveted enough to start investing, and it has to be said that this is indeed a good time - the demand for electric vehicles has been determined, the consumer group has been cultivated, the time for small troubles and small trial and error has passed, and new energy is becoming a kind of "now".
Car companies, which were once observing and waiting, have also begun to usher in a stage of full investment. Toyota, which was once considered very slow, does not lack doubts in the market, and everyone either thinks that Toyota lags behind in pure electricity, or that Toyota is still following the old path based on the "hybrid" framework.
But in fact, Toyota has been moving into electrification at its own pace, blazing an unconventional path, even ahead of many competitors, and its technical capabilities should never be questioned.
As early as 1997, Toyota launched a hybrid model, an ace model that created more than 10 million sales - Toyota PRIUS, which established Toyota's trump card position in the hybrid car market.
At the same time, Toyota is also an early player in the development and production of batteries. Earlier than the appearance of Price, Toyota established Prime Earth EV Energy in 1996 to make efforts in the field of nickel-metal hydride battery technology; In 2003, Toyota began to develop lithium-ion batteries; In 2008, Toyota established a battery research department and has begun to research next-generation batteries such as all-solid-state batteries; In 2021, Toyota decided to integrate the battery segment and formed Prime Planet Energy & Solutions.
But it is the parallel of the "diversification" technology path, so Toyota is also considered "swinging", unlike some more radical enterprises "stud", until Sato took office, Toyota's attitude of embracing electrification was once again seen and clarified by the market.
At the June technical meeting, Toyota dismantled its own technical goals to further inform the public about its plans for the electrification market, which has always been an important place, and "diversified" technology paths will still be chosen.
At this meeting, two strategic points were highlighted: first, Toyota will accelerate the research and development process of pure electric vehicles, correcting the previous neglect of this direction; Second, Toyota will continue to invest in fuel cells and study different powertrain forms through diversified methods.
At the same time, Toyota announced two major plans, BEV Factory and Hydrogen Energy Factory, which will reintegrate the architecture and further develop efforts in the two major fields of pure electric and hydrogen energy, respectively.
Specific to the progress of pure electric vehicles, Toyota plans to launch BEV Factory-based pure electric vehicles to the market in 2026, and by 2030, Toyota's global pure electric vehicle sales are expected to reach 3.5 million units, of which 1.7 million new products developed by BEV Factory will reach 1.7 million.
In terms of hydrogen fuel business, Toyota Motor plans to set up a hydrogen energy factory from July 1 to conduct localized R&D and production in major markets, mainly in Europe and China. At the same time, the company will develop next-generation hydrogen fuel cell technology and FC systems. Toyota Motor said it will strive to fully commercialize hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
In addition, when talking about all-solid-state battery technology, Toyota said that Toyota will mass-produce all-solid-state batteries as early as 2027 for pure electric vehicles.
Toyota is still firmly moving forward on the "diversified" technology path, but the pure electric that the Chinese market is more eager to see is also close at hand.
The need for "diversifying" technological paths
Historically, Toyota's battery technology research and development has never been pretentious to others, and has always had a positive attitude towards battery research and development, hands-on, as evidenced by the number of R&D expenses and patents over the past years.
Although the market does not fully understand Toyota, Toyota has actually been acting, investing more than the car companies that seem to be "stud".
Since 2017, Toyota's R&D expenditure has exceeded 1 trillion yen for four consecutive years, ranking first among Japanese automakers for many years, and it has been increasing its investment in the wave of electrification.
From 2020 to 2022, Toyota's R&D expenses were 1.11 trillion yen, 1.09 trillion yen, and 1.12 trillion yen, respectively.
Even at a time when the global economy is uncertain due to interest rate hikes, financial turmoil and other factors, Toyota is still increasing investment.
In fiscal 2023, Toyota's estimated R&D expenses have reached 1.24 trillion yen, or about 63.3 billion yuan, ranking third in the world, and one of the important directions is batteries.
The investment of real money can highlight Toyota's determination to embrace electrification more than shouting slogans.
As far as R&D patents in the field of electric vehicles are concerned, Toyota has obtained more than 20,000 R&D patents for electric vehicles, and has established a world-leading electrification technology system in core areas such as the three-electric system.
At this technical conference, Toyota also demonstrated more technical capabilities.
In addition to revolutionary breakthroughs in the field of batteries, Toyota has also introduced "rocket supersonic technology", which effectively reduces the drag coefficient to a threshold of 0.1, reaching the world's leading level and controlling energy consumption more effectively.
In addition to the electric technology itself, Toyota has also improved and innovated its manufacturing technology. Including integrated die casting, automated mobile production line, digital factory and a complete set of advanced all-round electrification technology solutions, greatly reducing production costs.
Many people have questioned Toyota's "diversified" technology path, believing that it is a manifestation of lack of specificity and lack of investment, but in fact, Toyota, as a highly globalized car company, is bound to see a larger market to meet the travel needs of different consumers in different markets around the world.
As early as the era of fuel vehicles, Toyota adhered to the "many" route, model levels covering miniature, small, compact, medium-sized, medium-large, luxury cars, in addition to sedans, SUVs, MPVs, sports cars, pickups, micro-faces and other models, in terms of displacement, there are 1.2L, 1.3L, 1.5L, 1.8L, 2.0L, 2.5L, 3.5L, 4.0L, 5.0L.
This is also the fundamental strategy that has established its global sales leadership for many years, and it will continue to be in the era of electrification, and "multi-technology" is a position that Toyota cannot abandon.
For the Chinese market, pure electrification is unstoppable, but from the perspective of the global market, fuel vehicles are still mainstream in many markets, even in the Chinese market where the penetration rate of pure electric vehicles is rising, fuel vehicles still occupy a dominant position.
According to a 2022 survey by Deloitte Group, 70% of respondents in the United States choose fuel vehicles, 50% in Germany, and about 40% of respondents in Japan still choose fuel vehicles.
Therefore, traditional automakers such as Toyota cannot directly "stud" in the new energy vehicle business like new car companies.
For Toyota, it needs to consider not only a market, but also to assume more global missions and responsibilities as a leading enterprise, practice its low-carbon and environmental protection responsibilities as an automobile company, and use a more comprehensive strategy to make efforts in the low-carbon transformation of globalization. Electrification is only a means, and carbon neutrality is the ultimate goal.
Therefore, Toyota has always chosen to tailor different electrification strategies according to local conditions and consumer needs in different regions.
From the perspective of market terminal, Toyota Motor has achieved a multi-energy layout, of which pure electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been put on the market and started sales, and sales have also verified Toyota's strategy of "diversification" technology path.
According to the data, Toyota's cumulative global sales in fiscal 2022 were 9,609,800 units, a record high, a year-on-year increase of 1.03%, of which the cumulative sales of Toyota and the LEXUS brand were about 9.61 million units, a year-on-year increase of 1%. Regionally, Toyota Motor achieved sales growth in Japan, North America, Europe, and Asia.
Among them, 24,466 pure electric vehicles were sold, 90,346 plug-in hybrid vehicles were sold, and 3,924 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were sold.
As far as the Chinese market, which places more emphasis on pure electric vehicles, GAC Toyota, as a joint venture between the Toyota Group and GAC, is an effective entry point for Toyota to observe in the Chinese market.
As a leader in the hybrid market, GAC Toyota's hybrid models rank first in the industry in terms of sales, proportion and market share, and have gained a good reputation. Since then, GAC Toyota has expanded its PHEV and EV layout based on HEVs, and sold more than 500,000 electrified models, which not only strongly promoted the popularization of hybrid vehicles, but also accumulated experience in the electrification market.
In the future, GAC Toyota is also expected to follow Toyota's steps, focus on pure electricity in the Chinese market, reduce battery costs by 30% by 2030, and gradually land the application of all-solid-state batteries.
Wait for the new Toyota in 3 years
Therefore, Toyota's strategy has always been based on a global perspective, fully referring to the characteristics of each region, and introducing a suitable powertrain, and the day when it breaks out in the field of electrification does not seem far away.
As far as the current plan disclosed by Toyota is concerned, the day of the outbreak may be 3 years later.
On the one hand, in Toyota's "diversified" technology path battery planning, the "performance version" battery and hydrogen fuel cell that are planned to be released early will achieve mass production in 2026, and other versions of lithium batteries and all-solid-state batteries will also achieve mass production in 2027-2028.
As for models, based on the plan, the next-generation EV produced by the newly established BEV Factory is scheduled to be launched in 2026.
In 2026, Toyota also plans to achieve sales of 1.5 million pure electric vehicles, which is enough to achieve a new electric vehicle leader compared to the current industry leader TESLA with 1.31 million units worldwide.
In addition, battery technology and other supporting technologies required for automotive launches will also usher in a new situation in 2026.
For example, "rocket supersonic technology", which can effectively suppress drag and reduce battery energy consumption, Toyota plans to achieve mass production in 2026; The BEV Factory represents not only the evolution of battery technology, but also the evolution of manufacturing technology, which will also be realized in 2026.
By then, there will be no need for conveyor belts on the production line, and the layout of the plant will be unrestricted, so the annual mass production lead time and the plant investment of up to billions of yen can be greatly reduced, laying a solid foundation for the three-year contract.
Of course, whether this goal can be achieved after three years, the key to Zui is still Toyota's attitude.
Everyone always knows that Toyota is strong, but they don't know that Toyota electrification is also strong, let alone how determined it is to embrace electrification.
And this technical briefing is the key to this. For the market, it is a shot in the arm, used to prove that Toyota's determination to embrace electrification is not only the resignation of Akio Toyoda and the appointment of Tsuneji Sato, but also its clear planning and expectations for the future, every R&D investment and patent realization, and every evidence-based route design.
For such a Toyota at this moment, 3 years is still enough for elephants to catch up.
GAC Toyota, as an important player of Toyota in the Chinese market, has always followed Toyota in the "diversified" technology path of electrification strategy.
In the field of hybridization, in 2023, GAC Toyota released and upgraded as many as 12 intelligent electric hybrid models, completing the intelligent electric hybrid of all TNGA models.
In the field of pure electric vehicles, following GAC Toyota bZ4X, the bZ series models have been expanded again, and the new bZ FlexSpace Concept was unveiled at this year's Shanghai Auto Show.
In the field of hydrogen energy, GAC Toyota took the lead in introducing the second-generation MIRAI and launched the first hydrogen fuel cell car demonstration operation "Nansha Hydrogen Run" public travel service in China.
GAC Toyota plans to increase sales of electrified models to 60% by 2025. By 2035, we are expected to see a 100% pure electrification of GAC Toyota.
GAC Toyota is expected to join Toyota in its own harvest moment and become a leader at the forefront of the wave of electric vehicles.
End
In the automotive industry, everyone often uses "elephant turn" to describe the difficulty of traditional car companies embracing electrification, but sometimes, things will exceed the common sense of ordinary people.
Because after turning, the elephant can run up to 50 km/h, it may never be faster than the cheetah, but it also surpasses humans and many animals, and it moves more steadily and steadily.
This press conference, which was disguised as a "technical briefing", was actually more like a strategic briefing, indicating that Toyota, which is regarded as an "elephant", has completed its turnaround, and Toyota has been steadily moving forward in order to complete the mission of carbon neutrality. And Toyota and its partner GAC Toyota in China, after determining the stamina after turning around, should not be ignored.
Who can say that in the electric car market in three years, Toyota will not be the returning King.