Toyota Motor Corporation is set to establish its dominance in the electric vehicle (EV) battery market with a series of big developments.
“We are determined to be the world leader in batteries,” Chief Technology Officer Hiroki Nakajima said. “We will need various options for batteries, just like we have different variations of engines. It is important to make these batteries compatible with any kind of model.”
The carmaker’s top battery expert, Keiji Kaita, unveiled new batteries expected to debut by the end of the decade in a recent briefing at Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji Technical Center in the Shizuoka prefecture.
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The first advancement is a next-generation lithium-ion power pack set to double the range of Toyota’s current bZ4X electric crossover. With an impressive driving range of 1,000 kilometers, the battery will also be 20% cheaper than the current EV batteries.
Notably, it will recharge from 10% to 80% capacity in under 20 minutes, outperforming the current model’s charging time of 30 minutes. This cutting-edge lithium-ion battery will be introduced in 2026.
Toyota’s ambitious plans continue with the development of a bipolar lithium iron phosphate battery, projected to be available around 2026 or 2027. By combining anode and cathode terminals into the same current collector, this battery boosts power density and reduces costs by 40% compared to the existing bZ4X battery.
The company aims to introduce a nickel-based bipolar lithium-ion battery between 2027 and 2028, improving range by 10% while being 10% cheaper than the next-generation lithium-ion battery arriving in 2026.
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Additionally, Toyota intends to release an electric vehicle powered by an all-solid-state battery as early as 2027. This technology is expected to more than double the vehicle’s range on a single charge. Overcoming challenges related to the lifespan of solid-state batteries, Toyota believes it has found the necessary quality materials to make this innovation a reality.
“We found quality material,” Nakajima said. “We’ll keep up with the rest of the world and definitely put it to practical use.”
Solid-state EV batteries can be charged in under 10 minutes and provide a range of 1,200 kilometers, surpassing conventional lithium-ion batteries by 2.4 times.
With its extensive expertise and over 1,000 patents in solid-state batteries, Toyota is well-positioned to lead this technology’s development. The company plans to eventually produce a solid-state battery capable of a range of approximately 1,500 kilometers on a charge of less than 10 minutes.
Toyota’s aims to sell 1.5 million EVs annually by 2026 and increase that number to 3.5 million by 2030.
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