Toyota said on Tuesday that it will introduce high-performance, solid-state batteries, and other technologies to improve the driving range and lower the costs of future electric vehicles (EVs), a strategic pivot that sent its stock higher.
In the rapidly expanding EV market, where it has lagged behind competitors led by Tesla, the Japanese giant’s technology roadmap represented the automaker’s most thorough disclosure of its strategy. The roadmap covered a wide range of subjects, including the development of next-generation batteries and a fundamental redesign of factories.
The plan was announced the day before an annual shareholders meeting where governance and strategy, including a gradual shift to battery EVs under former CEO Akio Toyoda, would be examined.
Shares of the automaker with the highest global sales increased 5% on the day to 2,173 yen, the highest level since August.
According to Toyota, next-generation lithium-ion batteries with longer ranges and faster charging will be available starting in 2026.
It also trumpeted a “technological breakthrough” that addresses durability problems in solid-state batteries and said it is developing means to mass produce those batteries, targeting commercialisation over 2027-2028.
Solid-state batteries can hold more energy than current liquid electrolyte batteries. Automakers and analysts expect them to speed the transition to EVs by addressing a major consumer concern: range.
However, the price of these batteries will likely increase over time. Toyota will hedge with better-performing lithium iron phosphate batteries, a less expensive alternative to the lithium-ion batteries that have fueled EV adoption in China, the world’s largest vehicle market.
At the high end of the market, Toyota said it would produce an EV with a more efficient lithium-ion battery offering a range of 1,000 km (621 miles). By comparison, the long-range version of the lithium-ion-powered Tesla Model Y, the world’s best-selling EV, can drive for about 530 km based on U.S. standards.
An EV powered by a solid-state battery would have a range of 1,200 kilometres and a charging time of just 10 minutes, Toyota said.
By comparison, the Tesla Supercharger network – the largest of its kind – offers the equivalent of 321 km of charge in 15 minutes.
Toyota did not detail expected costs or required investment for the plans.
Engineers at the automaker have been considering a reboot of its EV strategy since last year to better compete.
The roadmap revealed on Tuesday revealed that, under new CEO Koji Sato, Toyota has adopted much of the revamp that engineers and planners have been developing as options for months.
“What we want to achieve is to change the future with BEVs,” Takero Kato, president of new Toyota EV unit BEV Factory, said in a video posted on the automaker’s YouTube channel on Tuesday.