Toyota estimates half of the company’s global sales will be electrified by 2030.

Toyota president and CEO Akio Toyoda

“Around 2030, out of the total sales of our vehicles, approximately 50% would be sales coming from electrified vehicles. Electrified vehicles means, electric vehicles (EV), fuel cell vehicles (FCV), hybrids (HEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV). Then, in terms of the breakdown, electric vehicle and fuel cell vehicle would total 1m. Battery and plug-in hybrid vehicle about 4.5m, so in total about 5.5m electrified vehicles,” said Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda.

Toyota states it is and has been working on the development of a full range of “environmentally friendly” vehicles including HEVs, PHEVs, FCVs, and EVs for many years.

The announcement follows Toyota’s agreement with battery provider Panasonic, whereby the companies have begun exploring further advancements in automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

Akio Toyoda said that “further evolution, in terms of performance, price, and safety, and the securing of stable supply capacity, are pressing issues” for automotive batteries, which will be met by the cooperation with Panasonic through the study of “next-generation batteries, such as solid-state”, which Mr Toyoda said would include the complete lifecycle, from procurement to reuse and recycling.

The company further announced the launch of its first battery electric vehicle will be for the Chinese market.

So far this year, Toyota has sold 1.47m hybrids and 50,000 plug-in hybrids. “We’re trying to increase this number to 4.5m by 2030. We are going to make a major change in how we navigate our business,” Mr Toyoda added.

However, he continued that, “Right now, the speed of development of batteries is not up to the speed of regulation. That’s the reality right now. Batteries right now are very expensive and heavy and the mobility to carry those batteries or EVs – that is the current situation. In order to change the situation by 2030, we have to change what we are doing. We have to work for better batteries and cars.”

Kazuhiro Tsuga, president Panasonic Corporation, added, “Toyota would like to commercialise solid state batteries in their vehicles. It’s not that easy for society to shift to solid state batteries. There’s going to be a limit of lithium-ion batteries and we want to be fully prepared for the shift from Li-ion to solid state batteries. Would that be in five or ten years from now, I don’t know.”