Toyota will invest $13.6 billion in electric vehicle battery research and development and launch pure electric models as early as next year

In the eyes of Chinese users, the product quality of Japanese companies has always had an aura of rigor. But in addition to this, as the other side of the coin, Japanese products have another characteristic, which is conservatism.

Take the automobile industry as an example. Honda and Toyota had extremely high market shares in the world in the era of fuel vehicles, but they generally resisted the advent of the new energy era. Toyota has been trying to cope with the pressure of carbon neutrality and the wave of pure electric vehicles with hybrid power and hydrogen fuel cells, but the historical trend is unstoppable, and Toyota is finally going to make efforts in the field of pure electric vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corp. said recently that it expects to invest $13.6 billion by 2030 in the research and development of batteries and battery power systems for electric and hybrid vehicles in order to gain a leading position in key automotive technologies in the next decade.

Nowadays, safety issues such as fires caused by new energy vehicle batteries are common, causing considerable concern among consumers.

Fengtai also said that it is not satisfied with the current lithium-ion battery technology, and believes that battery safety, life and technical level are all indispensable. It said that it will reduce battery costs by more than 30% by studying battery materials and structures.

Toyota is also expected to launch solid-state batteries by 2025. Toyota CTO Masahiko Maeda said that he had test-driven a prototype car equipped with solid-state batteries in 2020. This type of battery is lighter, safer, and has a higher energy density than existing batteries, but has a shorter service life, which is also the direction Toyota will focus on solving.

According to Toyota's plan and pace, its first pure electric model will be launched in 2022, which is undoubtedly behind others. But Toyota's heritage and technology are still there, and perhaps it can make up for the lost decade with new battery technology.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.