Toyota’s new CEO, Koji Sato, has big plans for the company, which he hopes to transform into an EV juggernaut, and ward off the threat of rivals like Tesla. To help generate more scale, it may share its new battery technology with its partners, like Subaru, Mazda, Suzuki, and others.
As part of its plan for the future, Toyota plans to sell 3.5 million EVs per year by 2030, about half of which will be based on a newly designed EV platform that it will roll out in 2026. This new platform could someday offer ranges of as many as 932 miles (1,500 km), thanks to new battery technology.
The efficiency of the new platform won’t be limited to the road, though. Autonews reports that the automaker is also turning to a newly created unit called the BEV Factory business, which will design the new vehicle architecture to be as simple as possible to build.
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Through new production processes, such as Tesla-inspired giga presses that allow vehicles to be made using fewer pieces, and a self-propelled production line (in which vehicles drive themselves through a factory, reducing the need for traditional lines), Toyota hopes to reduce costs of EVs, which are notably expensive to manufacture.
The automaker also hopes to reduce its reliance on workers, though it plans to upskill employees into more productive roles. On top of all that, it will use what it learns creating its new EVs in the rest of its vehicles, whether or not they’re electric.
“Those technologies should not be applied only to battery electric vehicles,” Takero Kato, the president of BEV Factory, said. “It’s about increasing our quality and flexibility. We will be able to streamline all our manufacturing and production activities through this activity.”
To help further pump up its volume, Toyota said it may also share its new EV technology with partners. The Japanese giant holds stakes in a variety of companies, such as Subaru, Mazda, Suzuki, Daihatsu, Hino, Isuzu, and more.
Altogether, they sell 16.3 million units per year, and it has already collaborated with partners to create EVs like the Toyota bZ4X/Subaru Solterra. Toyota has committed to providing that company its next-generation hybrid technology. Ultimately, sharing the technology with partners will help spread out the costs of its creation, much like VW is doing with its EV platforms.
