Toyota’s next generation of electric cars will offer new battery options that will increase range to 497 miles and be up to 40% cheaper than the Toyota bZ4X when they arrive in 2026.
The two electric car batteries – the range-focused lithium ion Performance and the affordability-focused lithium-iron-phosphate Popularisation – are part of a push from the Japanese firm for its EVs to appeal to a wider customer base.
Between 2027 and 2028, a lithium ion High Performance pack offering 621 miles of range will replace the Performance battery in the line-up. It will also be 10% cheaper, Toyota said.
“We will need various options for batteries, just as we have different types of engines,” said Takero Kato, president of Toyota’s EV development centre. “It’s important to offer battery solutions compatible with a variety of models and customer needs.”
The models that will use these batteries – which will account for 1.7 million of the 3.5 million BEVs that Toyota expects to sell globally by 2030 – will also be designed to be lighter and more aerodynamic than the Japanese brand’s already slippery (but heavy) sole BEV in a bid to maximise efficiency.
Key to the aerodynamics will be flatter batteries. Toyota said reducing the height of the battery is a key factor for improved efficiency, because this in turn allows for a lower, more aerodynamic design that reduces drag.
In today’s bZ4X, the battery is around 150mm high, but this will be reduced to 120mm for the next generation models.
Toyota also confirmed that this will allow it to produce “high-performance sports models” with a battery height of 100mm targeted.
Toyota solid-state batteries to offer 994 miles
Today’s news follows a breakthrough in battery technology that will enable Toyota to mass-produce solid-state batteries – so called because they use a solid electrolyte rather than a liquid one, as in today’s lithium ion batteries – by 2028.