Toyota: new three-year plan for future electric cars

Toyota is due to reveal its three-year plan for the development of electric vehicles to its suppliers and equipment manufacturers in February 2023, according to a Reuters report. With this new strategy, Toyota is learning “ways to increase EV competitiveness planned for this decade“even if it means buying”delays in some EV development programs originally planned for a three-year period“. These additional delays are (already) for Toyota’s technical cousin, the new bZ4X and successors to the Lexus RZ.

The turnaround is the result of a realization among some Toyota engineers and executives that the Japanese automaker is losing the electric car cost war to Tesla. To this we can add a large number of models offered by America.

So, in October last year, Reuters announced that Toyota wanted to reduce production costs.better against Tesla and other competitors“. Therefore, the Japanese manufacturer was considering the possibility of partially abandoning the $38 billion investment plan (announced at the end of 2021) allocated to the development of electric cars (30 models by 2030). A prioriit seems that this decision has been made, as some developments on the expected 30 new models have been cut, even abandoned for the electric SUV Compact Cruiser Crossover and, in particular, the legendary Crown sedan.

To increase competitiveness, Toyota is talking about improving the management of electric motors and batteries through better integration of cooling and heating systems.

For these purposes, Toyota called on its two main equipment suppliers, Denso and Aisi. The latter are invited to submit “a new co-developed thermal management system“both suppliers and”A more advanced electric powertrain or eAxle from AisinThe Japanese manufacturer would also like to integrate a new silicon carbide converter developed by Denso into its high-end electric vehicles, which would improve charging while helping to reduce production costs.

The future of the E-TNGA platform is in doubt

Among the avenues for reflection and change, the e-TNGA platform (which appeared in 2019) on which the new Toyota bZ4X and Lexus RZ are based can be questioned.

Dedicated to the brand’s electric cars, this platform is taken from the platform used by Japanese hybrid cars. This currently allows to have a single production line, independent of the engine. Today, however, this technical compromise limits the production capacity of the brand’s electric cars based on the “” assumption.It sells about 3.5 million EVs a year, about a third of its current global volume [toutes motorisations confondues] By 2030“However, the forecasts on a global scale, all manufacturers combined, trust “faster growth rateIn 2030, it will exceed 50% of world production.

Also, according to Reuters, a working group called “Business Revolution” was created.to upgrade the existing e-TNGA platform or create a new architecture by early next year“. In the case of a new platform built from scratch, you may have to wait five years to see new models arrive.

This fix by Toyota should silence many of its critics. In effect, “green investors and environmental groups“Slammed the Japanese manufacturer”very slowto adopt electric cars.

The honeymoon with Tesla is off

It should be noted that Toyota has to bite its fingers to sell its stake in Tesla in 2017. Indeed, in 2012, the Japanese manufacturer Toyota invested in an American manufacturer to develop a 100% electric version of the RAV4.

The project was abandoned in 2014. At the time, Japanese engineers believed that “Tesla’s technology was not a threat“and”there wasn’t much to learn“according to Reuters citing two anonymous sources.

When Toyota decided to go all-electric in 2018, Tesla already offered three models.