Toyota Participate in the Production of Electric Vehicles; Lithium Battery Industry Looks for a Good Prospective

Toyota Participate in the Production of Electric Vehicles; Lithium Battery Industry Looks for a Good Prospective

It is reported that Toyota has recently figured out a mass production plan for long-range electric vehicles which will be expected to list in 2020 at the latest. Market participants regard this as a strategic transformation of Toyota to have electric vehicles as their core business.

Mass Production in 2020

The report said, Toyota will found a work team in the beginning of 2017, which will specialized in the research and development of electric vehicles with a single charging range of 300km. Toyota aims to sale its first long-range electric car in 2020 in Japan and to produce pure electric vehicles based on the platform of existing Prius HEV or Corolla.

As early as 2012 to 2014, Toyota has worked with Tesla to develop a pure electric SUV and to sale it in the USA. But it’s market performance is not ideal, with only 2000 units sold in two years. Now the fierce market competition and the improvement of environmental protection standard in many countries ask Toyota to value electric vehicles again in its strategy.

In the next decade, both Europe and the United States will become increasingly strict with vehicle emissions, and China will also promote the standards for vehicle emission gradually.

Auto Companies are to Develop Electric Vehicles Aggressively

At present, most of the traditional automobile manufactures have begun to put more focus on electric vehicles.

Kruger, BMW's chief executive, said in October this year that BMW is to introduce electric vehicles and their prototype series of all brands systematically. Previously, the company said that BMW pure electric mini car brand will be launched in 2019, and will also launch a pure electric version of BMW X3 SUV by 2020. Volkswagen announced to make its electric car production account for a quarter of the company’s whole car production by 2025. And Benz also cooperate with Tesla in the research and development of drive systems and battery technology. Audi plans to launch its first electric car in 2018.

A Good Prospective of Lithium Battery Industry

Toyota has once focus on hybrid power and hydrogen fuel vehicles. However, the cost for hydrogen fuel vehicles are too high with an immature hydrogen refueling station network, which cause it difficult to make hybrid power and hydrogen fuel vehicles popular in a short period of time. While electric vehicles are based on external power supply and driven by electrical machines without gasoline. The Charging infrastructure is also completed, so there is no emission of carbon dioxide of electric vehicles. While there are also technical problems for pure electric vehicle production, for example, problems like charging for the lithium battery, the charging range and security and stability of the battery. Toyota has established related research institute for Battery materials, but it will purchase lithium battery for other companies in the future as well to reduce the cost.

According to an institutional research, considering the range, battery life and the convenience of charging, high nickel ternary power battery will be an inevitable trend for the future. Lithium battery is expected to have a good prospective. If Toyota and other auto giants made a breakthrough in mass production of pure electric vehicles, it would provide a further positive future for lithium battery industry.