Toyota has announced plans for a new electric vehicle battery that will offer more than double the range available from most current model EVs.
In a briefing on Tuesday, the Japanese automaker said it’s developing solid-state batteries that can store enough energy to go 750 miles before needing to recharge.
The average range for an EV in the US is just under 300 miles, with the 2023 Lucid Air topping the list at 516 miles.
Toyota’s next-generation cells, which the company said it expects to mass-produce by 2028, could be charged in just 10 minutes, Reuters reported. Eventually, they would be followed by an even more advanced solid-state battery with a driving range of more than 920 miles.
In the meantime, Toyota said it will launch a more efficient lithium-ion battery in 2026 with range of about 620 miles.
Toyota’s stock closed up 5.7% on Tuesday, one day before its yearly shareholders’ meeting, the first under new CEO Koji Sato.
The race to zero-emission vehicles
Other car companies have gone all in on zero-emission vehicles — General Motors vowed to stop manufacturing internal combustion engine automobiles by 2035 and Honda by 2040. But Toyota has been slower to hop on the EV bandwagon.
Back in 2017, the company announced it would phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2040. But EV strategy director Shigeki Terashi backed away from that promise in a 2021 investor call, saying it was “too early to concentrate on one option,” at least until 2050. This is despite states like California introducing their own EV mandates that would ban the sale of internal-combustion passenger vehicles and light trucks by 2035.
Toyota said it expects to sell 1.5 million EVs by 2026. Its luxury brand, Lexus, is slated to go fully electric by 2035.
While Sato said in January that “the time is right” for an EV-first approach, Toyota chief scientist Gill Pratt argued that same month that the scarcity of lithium made an all-electric approach unfeasible.
“These shortages — not only of battery materials, but of charging infrastructure — will make it abundantly clear that one size does not fit all,” Pratt told Automotive News.
If you’re looking to buy a new car, here are CNET’s lists for the best electric cars and EVs and the best hybrid vehicles for 2023.
Read more: How to Claim the $7,500 Electric Vehicle Tax Credit and Which Cars Qualify for It
