Toyota Motor will invest 1.5 trillion yen ($13.64 billion) in electric vehicle battery technology by 2030, to support its carbon neutrality goal in 2050, Kallanish reports.

Chief technology officer Masakiko Maeda told a media and investors briefing on Tuesday that the carmaker will apply its hybrid electric vehicle (HEV)-horned battery technology into fully electric vehicles (BEVs), as well as develop and produce solid-state batteries. The investments will be dedicated into advancing lithium-ion battery technology and materials, and enabling the integration of battery and vehicle manufacturing.

“We will develop three types of batteries, and by the second half of the 2020s, we hope to improve the characteristics of each type so that we can provide batteries that can be used with peace of mind,” he says.

Toyota says it’s working to build “a flexible system that can stably supply the required volume of batteries at the required timing while meeting the needs of various customers in each region around the world.”

For liquid batteries, the carmaker it will focus on material evolution and structural innovation. These include developing cobalt-free and nickel-free chemistries, new electrode materials and a new structure, something more advanced than prismatic batteries but less advanced than solid-state batteries.

Its bipolar nickel-metal hydride batteries used in HEVs offer “increased instantaneous power” and should be used for future BEVs, as Toyota also look to increase endurance and supress degradation.

In terms of solid-state batteries, Toyota is confident it will commercialise its technology. The company is currently “identifying the merits and challenges” of its use in vehicles, after an all-solid-state battery prototype vehicle started road tests in August 2020.

Batteries will be produced both in-house and through collaborations with those “who understand and will put into practice our concept,” says Maeda, adding the company will start discussions with new partners in some regions.

To date, procurement will be done with CATL, BYD, GS Yuasa, Panasonic and Toshiba. Toyota expects battery demand to be at around 180-200 gigawatt-hours and to reduce battery costs per vehicle by 50% -- through integration of cells and vehicles manufacturing and increasing power efficiency from 2025.  

The carmaker expects to sell 8 million EVs in 2030, of which only 2m will be BEVs and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

“At the moment, because we can provide HEVs at a comparatively affordable price (to ICE vehicles), in places where the use of renewable energy is to become widespread going forward, electrification using HEVs is among the effective ways of reducing CO2 emissions,” defends Maeda.

The electrification journey of the world’s largest carmaker by volume, which has already sold 18.1m HEVs globally, is happening at a slower pace than peers. Toyota estimates one BEV has the CO2 emission reduction effect of three HEVs.