Revolutionizing Electric Mobility: Toyota to Launch Solid-State Battery EVs by 2027
Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has recently announced its plans to start selling electric vehicles (EVs) powered by solid-state batteries by 2027 or 2028. This announcement, delivered on the eve of Toyota’s annual shareholders’ meeting, was intended to assure investors of Toyota’s commitment to electrification in light of the rapid shift toward electric propulsion by competitors.
As reported by Reuters, Toyota’s current plan involves increasing the annual sales volume of its EVs to 1.5 million units by 2026. According to the company, it has solved the issues of reliability and durability associated with solid-state electrolyte batteries. Consequently, Toyota plans to commence mass production of vehicles based on these batteries by 2027 or 2028. A vehicle powered by such a battery would be able to cover up to 1200 km without recharging and recharge its range in approximately ten minutes.
By 2026, as an intermediate stage in its battery development progress, Toyota aims to offer electric cars with more capacity batteries. These batteries will enable the vehicles to drive up to 1000 km without recharging and to be recharged in less than twenty minutes. Moreover, the cost of such a battery will be 20% lower than that of the battery installed in the existing Toyota bZ4X electric crossover.
In addition to this, Toyota will not ignore lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. By 2026 or 2027, the company plans to equip a number of its electric vehicles with these batteries. This is expected to increase the driving range by 20% compared to the current bZ4X (up to 510 km for front-wheel drive) and reduce battery cost by 40%.
Interestingly, Toyota once held a stake in Tesla and shared certain know-how with them. However, the roles are expected to reverse in the future in terms of experience sharing. Toyota plans to adopt Tesla’s method of manufacturing body parts to simplify vehicle construction. Large body parts will be manufactured monolithically on large presses, much like Tesla’s approach. Meanwhile, Toyota will also increase the level of automation in its car assembly production by expanding the use of robots and digital technologies.
Another key innovation that Toyota is eager to introduce in its production is enhancing the aerodynamics of its products. In collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ rocket engineers, the Japanese carmaker hopes to lower the drag coefficient of its electric vehicles below 0.2. Among the series-produced electric vehicles, Lucid Air stands out with a comparable drag coefficient, while its body design is quite harmonious in terms of proportions and design. Toyota aims to approach a value of 0.1 or slightly higher.
Toyota plans to purchase power platform components for smaller electric vehicles from its partners. The use of these will free up space for cargo and passengers. Denso will receive Toyota’s support in the development of silicon carbide semiconductors, which have a higher efficiency when used in inverters. According to Toyota’s calculations, the cost of an electric vehicle’s powertrain can be reduced by 50% by switching to silicon carbide components.
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- I'm Vasyl Kolomiiets, a seasoned tech journalist regularly contributing to global publications. Having a profound background in information technologies, I seamlessly blended my technical expertise with my passion for writing, venturing into technology journalism. I've covered a wide range of topics including cutting-edge developments and their impacts on society, contributing to leading tech platforms.
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