Future electric vehicles (EVs) will use high-performance, solid-state batteries and other technologies from Toyota Motor Corporation , the automaker announced on Tuesday. This strategic shift increased the value of the company’s stock.
The Japanese giant’s technology roadmap represented the automaker’s most comprehensive disclosure of its strategy to compete in the rapidly expanding EV market, where it has lagged behind rivals led by Tesla (TSLA.O). The roadmap covered topics as diverse as next-generation battery development and a radical redesign of factories.
The strategy will be examined at an annual shareholders meeting the day before the plan is announced. Governance and strategy, including a gradual shift to battery EVs under former CEO Akio Toyoda, will be under close examination.
Shares of the world’s best-selling automaker jumped 5% on the day to 2,173 yen, the highest since August.
Lithium-ion batteries
Toyota Motor Corporation said it aims to launch next-generation lithium-ion batteries from 2026 offering longer ranges and quicker charging.
It also trumpeted a “technological breakthrough” that addresses durability problems in solid-state batteries and said it is developing means to mass produce those batteries, targeting commercialisation over 2027-2028.
Solid-state batteries can hold more energy than current liquid electrolyte batteries. Automakers and analysts expect them to speed transition to EVs by addressing a major consumer concern: range.
Still, such batteries are expensive and likely to remain so for years. Toyota will hedge with better-performing lithium iron phosphate batteries, a cheaper alternative to lithium-ion batteries that have spurred EV adoption in China, the world’s largest vehicle market.
At the high end of the market, Toyota said it would produce an EV with a more efficient lithium-ion battery offering a range of 1,000 km (621 miles). By comparison, the long-range version of the lithium-ion-powered Tesla Model Y, the world’s best-selling EV, can drive for about 530 km based on U.S. standards.
