Toyota reveals its plan to catch up on EV battery technology

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Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has a problem. Although the company is famous for pioneering lean methods of manufacturing and being an early pioneer of hybrid electric powertrains, the switch to battery electric vehicles caught it somewhat unprepared. As rivals locked up contracts for critical minerals and formed joint ventures with battery makers (or built their own), Toyota has appeared to fall behind.

Now, it has released a new roadmap showing how it will regain competitiveness and sell 3.5 million EVs by 2030.

After some early experiments with electric-converted RAV4s (including a partnership with Tesla), Toyota has finally released a modern BEV, the bZ4x. The car had a difficult launch—a recall for wheels falling off will lead to that—but a week’s test of a bZ4x exceeded our low expectations. A look at the car’s specs makes clear Toyota’s problem, though: There are different battery packs for the single-motor and dual-motor versions, made by Panasonic and CATL, respectively.