Toyota Motors has received some recent criticisms for being reluctant to release a plan for the upcoming electric vehicle shift in order to meet carbon emission requirements. The company responded by announcing it will be investing $13.6 billion into battery development and manufacturing over the course of the next decade.
Toyota has had dominance in hybrid vehicles for some time now and the company believes that carbon emissions will require a mix of hybrids, hydrogen-powered vehicles, as well as EVs, rather than relying on only one option. Toyota will be investing heavily into the research and development of next-generation batteries such as solid-state batteries that will no longer use liquid solutions; however, the battery has a shorter lifespan.
Toyota has been working with Tesla to further the development of solid-state batteries and hopes to have them fully operational by 2025. Toyota also hopes that further research and development will result in the cost of batteries being reduced by more than half in the second half of the decade.
Other companies are in battery manufacturing as well. Volkswagen has ordered $14 billion worth of batteries from Northvolt and also has plans to build six battery factories across Europe by 2030.
Source: Financial Times
