Japanese Govt. backs battery development and Toyota
The Japanese government is providing 330 billion yen in subsidies for domestic battery development and production, equivalent to about 2.14 billion euros. There are to be four recipients, including Toyota, which will receive more than a third of this sum.
The Japanese Minister of Industry, Yasutoshi Nishimura presented the scheme of which Toyota’s share amounts to 117.8 billion yen or 760 million euros. The government subsidies are specifically meant for the development and production of next-generation LFP batteries and solid-state batteries in general. The Minister revealed that the mass production of these batteries is expected to begin gradually from October 2026 onwards, whereby, the annual battery production capacity in Japan will initially be increased to 45 gigawatt hours. The aim is to reach 150 GWh annually by 2030.
Toyota only just published details of its electrification strategy a few days ago. Although the company continues to keep its technology focus open, the carmaker aims to achieve ranges of up to 1,000 kilometres for BEVs from 2026 onwards through improved batteries, before up to 1,500 kilometres should be possible shortly afterwards, thanks to solid-state batteries. For the development of these battery-powered cars, Toyota founded a new organisation called the BEV Factory in May, which is to produce around 1.7 million of the 3.5 million BEVs planned by Toyota by 2030.
Regarding “improved batteries”, Toyota publically confirmed plans for battery variants with NMC and LFP chemistry. The 1,000 kilometres mentioned only apply to the batteries with NMC-based performance cells (combined with advances in “vehicle efficiency, aerodynamics and weight reduction”). Above all, the LFP battery is supposed to be “good and cheap”. For the period 2027 to 2028, Toyota is then already aiming for the commercialisation of solid-fuel batteries.
It is becoming clear that Toyota wants to catch up in the field of BEVs through technological leaps in battery technology.
0 Comments