Posted on 06/22/2023 7:25:08 AM PDT by Red Badger
The automotive juggernaut unveiled new battery tech and new battery-powered vehicle plans.
Toyota has big plans to bring new, improved tech — and, perhaps, a sharper focus — to the electric vehicle market. It suggests a shift from the auto juggernaut’s previous position, which took a more skeptical approach to converting to fully EVs, instead pursuing a mix of fully-electric, hybrid, and hydrogen cars.
The maker of the Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid, says it will continue to offer a range of powertrain options, but it also announced a suite of new technologies designed to help the company fully join the fight for the EV market. This includes AI-assisted aerodynamic design, “Gigacasting” manufacturing like the kind used by Tesla, and — most crucially — “next-gen” EV batteries.
Toyota claims it will soon crank out EVs capable of going over 600 miles on one charge by 2026 — double the average range of new EVs hitting the road today. By 2028, the company’s aim is over 900 miles, per InsideEVs.
“That is stunning,” Michelle Krebs, an executive analyst at Cox Automotive, told Axios. (Cox Automotive and Axios are owned by the same parent company.)
Concern over driving range is one of the three biggest barriers preventing people on the fence from going fully electric, Krebs noted.
Toyota has announced a suite of new technologies designed to help the company fully join the fight for the EV market, including AI-assisted aerodynamic design, “Gigacasting” manufacturing, and — most crucially — “next-gen” EV batteries.
New battery tech: First on Toyota’s innovation docket is an optimized version of the lithium-ion battery that currently dominates the electric car market, InsideEVs reported. The 600-mile per charge battery will power a new model from Lexus, the luxury brand owned by Toyota.
Two new bipolar lithium iron phosphate batteries will launch next. The first, scheduled for 2026-27, is expected to reduce costs by 40%, InsideEVs reported; the second will be an advanced version with 10% more range, slated for production in 2027-28.
Finally, Toyota announced plans for a solid-state battery with a range of over 900 miles on one charge, hoping to hit the road in five years.
Solid state, fluid future: Solid-state batteries hold promise — and pitfalls — for electric vehicles. As Motortrend explained, solid-state batteries differ from the kind currently dominating the road in a crucial way: the separator, which keeps two crucial battery components separated, is the same medium that the current flows through. Traditional batteries use separators that allow for a liquid electrolyte medium to pass through it, instead.
This makes the batteries more stable, faster charging, and able to generate more juice with less weight. However, solid-state batteries are also material intensive, have some of the same material-modifying issues current batteries have, and — perhaps the real killer, right now — are more expensive to make.
Toyota claims it will be releasing batteries that will extend the rang up to 900 miles by 2028 — but the automaker has made similar claims before.
All of which could color Toyota’s new EV dedication.
“Whenever anyone said, ‘Oh, Toyota’s lagging on EVs,’ I always cautioned them: You don’t know what’s going on in their labs,” Krebs told Axios. “What’s pretty clear now is they’re going public with some of the work they’ve been doing.”
But, as Elektrek pointed out, Toyota’s been going public with what they’ve been doing for a while now; back in 2014, the company claimed a solid-state battery would be on the road by 2020.
Tires will cost more, as EVs eat tires up!................
The real solution is a plug in hybrid with a small IC engine to provide the needed operational flexibility. Toyota is moving in this direction and they will win in the marketplace.
New disruptive battery technology changes every one of your factors. Lithium batteries were unheard of when nickel cadmium was king, and new technologies will pose different challenges.
>> Two new bipolar lithium iron phosphate batteries... <<
Great, now my car is manic-depressive...
I just got an advertisement for “Fire starter bundles” in my email some kind of fire kits for summertime barbecues and such-
I thought a better firestarter bundle kit woudl be a bundle of lithium batteries and a cheap chinese charging chord lol
Or a Lenovo laptop...................
I don't recommend solar and/or EV's for everybody. But our 2 years of owning solar and 1 year of owning the EV have worked out well for us. If someone lives in the deep south (lots of sun) and does lots of driving (for us it was 26K miles this past year), then it saves money to be as self-sufficient with energy as feasibly possible.
Admittedly, it probably wouldn't work as well if I started the project this year because I would have to pay a much higher interest on the loan I'm paying to pay for the solar and other energy home improvements. But my payback period is looking like 11 years after I installed the first solar equipment, 10 years after we got the EV and upgraded the solar. And that assumes from here on only a 3% inflation rate in energy costs we're avoiding. Obviously if the Dims keep having their way and make energy costs keep rising a lot faster, then the energy project pays for itself sooner.
The point being that the Dims are wrong that it's a one-size-fits-all plan. But at the same time, us conservatives shouldn't dismiss EV's and or solar automatically just because the Dims like them. On a case-by-case basis they may work for your situation. Plus it's a good feeling to do things like drive more and keep our house thermostat set cooler in the summer when the end result is that only 20% of our power has to be bought (the other 80% is supplied by solar).
On top of that, we don't have to look at EV's vs ICE cars as the mutually exclusive decision the Dims make it out to be. Since I'm married and need two cars anyway, my wife and I have one of each to give us diversification on our driving choices for the day. Some trips are best with the EV (i.e. lots of fast chargers, stay at a hotel with a complementary charger so we can wake up to a full "tank", etc.), while other trips are best with the ICE pickup (i.e. few charging options, or maybe the trip involves pickup type chores for extended family or a church service project). The Dims make every argument a mutually exclusive type decision (either you're for this and against that, or for that and against this) to polarize us, when sometimes what's best for the individual or family is a little bit of both. At least for us, that's how the EV or ICE is.
People cannot afford diesel or nuclear subs.
Lithium is a not starter for so many reasons. Most people are just to stupid to realize that yet. The electric grid cannot handle a lot of EV’s. And they still won’t work in the cold.
Here in Florida, some homeowners Insurance companies have started not insuring homes or just the roofs if they have solar panels mounted on them. They weaken the roof structure and over time will rot the beams and poke
holes in the underlayment..............
I had a solar panel salesman come to my door yesterday and read the riot act to him. He tried to explain Global Warming to me but had no idea how CO2 heats the earth.
Those fundamental parameters I provided do not change. Every battery / EV technology has to be scored and ranked against them. It is a multivariate linear programming optimization problem.
It is the well-known “Fast, good, or cheap – pick two” “Iron Triangle” or “Project Management Triangle.”
That is plainly false. The most modern internal combustion engines in cars are about 30% efficient. The best internal combustion engines in a lab setting can get up to about 50% efficiency max. Electric motors can get to 90%+ efficiency.
Where’s the power coming from that will charge these wonderful new EVs?
A car that goes twice as far on a charge will require roughly twice the power to charge it. Apart from convenience to the owner, the fundamental problem is still there.
Whoopee.
Still take far too long to charge, cost too much to buy and repair.
And I know what the response time for an ambulance can and does run in my neck of the woods.
Just another reason why I won’t be buying an EV any time soon.
I can see everybody will be buying gas powered generators pretty soon.................
There still using batteries Jim beam me up.
A true hybrid. A small battery pack to power one,two or four motors, with a small highly efficient ICE engine whose only purpose is to charge the battery.
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