Toyota establishes in-house electric vehicle unit
Thu 17 November 2016
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Toyota, the world's largest car maker, has announced that it will establish a new in-house unit to focus solely on the development of electric cars and associated marketing.
The new unit, which is set to begin working shortly, will initially be staffed by four people responsible for planning a strategy to develop and market electric cars. Toyota says that the unit will gradually expand as it brings in designers, engineers, and other personnel from various existing units around the company.
In keeping with its earlier pledge that all Toyota vehicles will be emissions-free by 2050, the company is preparing to move forward with full-sized all-electric vehicles following a focus on ultra-compacts, fuel cell vehicles and PHEVs.
A Toyota spokesperson Itsuki Kurosu said: "Regulations on lower emissions vehicles are changing very quickly, so we also have to respond quickly. With its small size, the new venture will be able to be more nimble in its planning and decision making, to speed up the process to develop electric cars."
The move is viewed as particularly significant by many in the industry as Toyota has so far focused its attention primarily on hydrogen and fuel cells along with hybrid vehicles like the Prius.
The world’s largest car maker says it still believes hydrogen fuel cells are the future, but implied that EVs may be a better fit for certain markets. The company’s official statement said (via Charged EVs):
"Toyota’s stance to invest primarily in developing fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) has not been changed. We regard FCVs as the ultimate ideal environmentally friendly vehicle where drivers are able to expect the same level of convenience as that offered by gasoline engine vehicles, with a generous cruising range and a short hydrogen refuelling time.
"In the midst of the rapid increase in regulations relating to zero emission vehicles around the world, there are two options to achieve zero emission vehicles: FCVs and EVs. Toyota has committed to making efforts in every direction on various powertrains when it comes to the development of environmentally friendly vehicles, and in relation to this, we have worked on the development of EVs as well.
"Although there are issues relating to EVs which need to be resolved, such as the short range, long charging times and performance (durability) of batteries, we would like to be prepared to consider introducing EV products while examining the energy issues and infrastructure status quo of each region/country."
Toyota has previously announced plans to make all of its vehicles emissions-free by 2050.
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