Toyota Plans To Release 30 Electric Vehicles By 2030 And To Transform Lexus Into An EV-Only Brand By 2035

Electric Vehicle (EV) will be the next big thing in the global automotive world in the next five years, with more and more automakers debuting their EV models every year. Everyone seems to compete!

That’s why Toyota is ramping up its game, creating plans to increase its electric vehicle production schedule to release 30 electric vehicles by 2030 rather than just 15 EVs by 2025, as was previously announced.

Not only that, the Japanese automaker also promised to sell 3.5 million battery EVs globally by 2030 and to transform Lexus into an EV-only brand by 2035.

Having to realise that it has since fallen far behind its competitors such as Tesla, Nissan, General Motors, as well as Volkswagen in terms of ‘electrification’, Toyota makes the alternative to invest 2 trillion yen (RM 72.45 billion) in battery vehicle technology, an increase over its previous commitment of 1.5 trillion yen (RM 54.34 billion).

Previously, the company’s top executives, including billionaire CEO Akio Toyoda made headlines when they labelled the trend toward electric vehicles “overhyped” partly because of emissions associated with power plants — a favourite talking point used by the oil and gas industry.

But, Toyoda later changed his mind, touting the need for the company to reduce tailpipe emissions by releasing more EVs.

“I believe that achieving carbon neutrality means realising a world in which all people living on this planet continue to live happily,” Toyoda said.

“We want to help realise such a world. This has been and will continue to be Toyota’s wish and mission as a global company. For that challenge, we need to reduce CO2 emissions as much as possible, as soon as possible.”

Toyota displayed several concept vehicles as part of the announcement, including sedans, sports cars, crossovers, SUVs, pickup trucks, and even a couple of boxy shuttles. The business didn't provide many details about each vehicle.

Still, it did say that a future Lexus sports car would have a "cruising range" of 700 kilometres (434 miles) and be capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in under two seconds. The BZ4X compact SUV, Toyota's first long-range EV, will arrive in the United States in mid-2022.