As the automaker ramps up its electrification campaign to catch up to rivals like Tesla and BYD, Nikkei has discovered that Toyota Motor expects to treble electric vehicle output in 2025 from its 2024 plan.

The manufacturer informed key component vendors of its intentions to increase the output of electric vehicles under the Toyota and Lexus brands to 600,000 units by 2025. At 190,000 units, the manufacturing goal for 2024 has been established. In 2022, Toyota sold 24,000 EVs.

Toyota plans to produce over 10 million vehicles overall, including roughly 150,000 electric vehicles, in 2023. The company plans to build 11 million vehicles in 2025, which would represent 5% to 6% of all automobiles.

Models from original equipment manufacturers are part of the sales strategy. Toyota’s EV sales in 2025 are predicted to be “around 800,000 units, including OEM sales,” according to a parts industry executive.

As early as this year, Toyota will launch a new electric Hilux model in Thailand, and the next year, it will launch electric SUVs in China and the US. Additionally, a Lexus ES electric vehicle is expected to debut in Japan in 2025.

It is also working together with Suzuki Motor and its subsidiary Daihatsu Motor to produce electric versions of small commercial vehicles.

The automaker will build electric vehicles at two of its key facilities in the city of Toyota in the prefecture of Aichi as well as at a Lexus facility in the prefecture of Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu.

Batteries for EVs will be predominantly manufactured in the United States at a special plant that is expected to begin operations in 2025. At two sites in Aichi, Toyota will also install battery production lines. Production will rise at Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, a battery subsidiary.

Toyota will also buy some batteries from China’s top EV manufacturer BYD and Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), a leader in the battery industry in China. Additionally, agreements are underway to purchase from LG Energy Solution in South Korea.

Toyota intends to start selling Lexus cars using a next-generation EV platform in 2026. It will use gigacasting technology to mould aluminium into the components of car chassis, saving time, money, and labour.

In 2030, Toyota plans to sell 3.5 million electric vehicles, 1.7 million of which will be built on the new platform.

The company’s general approach is to value all forms of transportation, including hybrid and petrol vehicles, as opposed to staking all of its future on EVs. However, sales of its EVs are now trailing those of BYD and Tesla and they are not very profitable.

(Adapted from AsiaNikkei.com)