The company says its upcoming battery technologies will provide more range, faster charging, and lighter weight.
Over 800 kilometres of WLTP range could be available as soon as 2026.
The automaker also says new batteries will be much less expensive to produce than current units.
Toyota has been left out of the EV race in the last few years, but the automaker is confident its upcoming battery technologies will help it surge to the top of the market.
Indeed, the Japanese company recently shared more details about its future batteries and what to expect of them.
From what can be seen in the roadmap, Toyota is working on five new battery types that will be used simultaneously in its vehicles over the rest of the decade, starting in 2026.
Compared to the battery used in the bZ4X, the Next-Generation Performance battery that will be launched in 2026 will be able to offer 300 kilometres of additional WLTP range and a 10-minute improvement on the 10 to 80% fast-charging time, which means expected figures of 800 kilometres and 20 minutes. In addition, manufacturing this battery will cost 20% less than the one used in the bZ4X.
In order to offer less expensive electric vehicles toward the end of the decade, Toyota will also produce a Popularisation version of its Next-Generation battery family starting in 2026 – 2027.
Unlike the other batteries in the automaker’s pipeline, this unit will be of the LiFePO chemical type. This will allow a cost reduction of 40% versus the bZ4X’s battery while still providing over 600 kilometres of WLTP range.
After these two new battery types are on the road, the automaker will launch a High-performance unit in 2027 – 2028 which will offer over 1,000 kilometres of range and a further 10% cost reduction over the Performance version, keeping the same 20-minute fast charging time.
Where things get more interesting is when it comes to solid-state batteries. Indeed, Toyota is the automaker that holds the largest number of patents pertaining to this technology, which is often hailed as the «Next big thing» in the EV world.
According to proponents, these types of batteries are superior to current liquid-based versions by being able to offer more range and faster charging while being more thermally stable, which limits cold-weather degradation, doesn’t require a temperature management system and decreases the risk of a fire.
Toyota says these batteries, which are expected to arrive in its vehicles in 2027 – 2028, will make for over 1,000 kilometres of WLPT range and the ability to charge from 10 to 80% in only 10 minutes.
The second iteration of the company’s solid-state battery will even push the vehicle’s range over 1,200 kilometres, but that is the only detail we know about it so far.
Toyota says that in addition to targeting ever-increasing range figures and faster charging times, its engineers are hard at work to reduce the physical size of its upcoming battery families in order to make it easier to install them in all sorts of vehicles, in addition to providing more room for passengers and luggage.
Of course, all of the range figures put forward by Toyota have been obtained with a vehicle specially conceived to optimize aerodynamics and calculated with the notoriously permissive WLTP standard, but they hint at substantial progress over the company’s current tech nonetheless.
Source: Carscoops
