Toyota Motor said it expects to spend more than $13.5 billion by 2030 to develop batteries and its battery supply system.
The world’s largest automaker by volume, which pioneered hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles with the Prius, is moving rapidly to deliver its first all-electric line-up next year.
Toyota said it aims to slash the cost of its batteries by 30 percent or more by working on the materials used and the way the cells are structured.
“We aim to improve power consumption, which is an indicator of the amount of electricity used per kilometer, by 30 percent, starting with the Toyota bZ4X,” Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda told a briefing.
The company is also the front runner to mass produce solid-state batteries – a potential game changer for automakers because they are more energy dense, charge faster and are less prone to catching fire. If developed successfully, they could replace liquid lithium-ion batteries.
Maeda said there was no change in Toyota’s target to begin manufacturing solid-state batteries by the mid 2020s.
Toyota also plans to use solid-state batteries in hybrid electric vehicles such as the Prius.