Toyota Commits $70 Billion to Electrify Its Lineup

Toyota is making a big commitment to electrify its lineup.

At present, Toyota’s green lineup is filled with hybrids and plug-in hybrids, but it’s also planning to launch 30 new electric models between now and 2030. To give a preview of its future electric vehicle (EV) lineup, the automaker unveiled several concept cars for both the Toyota and Lexus brands. The new EVs are part of Toyota’s goal to sell 3.5 million electric vehicles globally by 2030.

In addition to showing off some cool EV concepts, Toyota is expanding its investment in battery technology by just over $4.4 billion, to over $17.6 billion. The Japanese automaker plans to spend a total of $70 billion to electrify its lineup and $30 billion of that total will be used for new EVs.

“We will not only add battery EV options to existing vehicle models but will also offer a full lineup of reasonably priced mass-production models, such as the bZ series, to meet the needs of all kinds of customers,” said Toyota President Akio Toyoda.

Toyota recently unveiled the bZ4X electric crossover, which is the first EV from its new “Beyond Zero” sub-brand. The bZ4X will be joined by four additional EVs: a small crossover, sedan, compact SUV, and a large three-row SUV. Toyota previewed all four of them with concepts, which are expected to be pretty close to the production versions. Toyota hasn’t announced if all four of the new bZ models will be sold globally, but it is expected that the small crossover will only be sold in China and Europe.

The bZ lineup is just one part of Toyota’s EV plans since it has also released other concepts as part of its “Lifestyle” lineup. These concepts preview the rest of the EVs that will debut between now and the end of the decade. The big news is the Pickup EV concept, which looks like the next-generation Tacoma. The Pickup EV borrows some styling cues from the Tundra as well. Toyota recently announced it will introduce at least one electric pickup truck, so the Pickup EV concept could be a preview of a fully electric Tacoma.

We may even get a boxy off-road-ready electric SUV, which has been previewed by the Compact Cruiser EV concept. It’s inspired by the iconic FJ Cruiser. Toyota is also looking at commercial vehicles as well, with two electric commercial vehicles: the Mid Box and the Micro Box. 

Lexus is also getting its own lineup of EVs, which starts with the 2023 Lexus RZ 450e. The RZ is the first Lexus EV for North America. It’s based on the same platform as the Toyota bZ4X, but it’s expected that it will offer more power and hopefully more driving range than its Toyota cousin. 

Toyota unveiled the Electrified Sedan and Electrified SUV concepts, which also are previews of Lexus’ future EVs. The Electrified Sport concept cannot be ignored, with its insane amount of power that can accelerate the coupe from 0-62 mph in the low two-second range. Lexus says the new sports car will inherit “the driving taste, or the secret sauce, of the performance cultivated via the development of the LFA.”

Lexus plans to offer a full lineup of fully electric vehicles in all vehicle segments by 2030 and to have  EVs account for 100% of its vehicle sales in Europe, North America, and China, totaling one million units globally. By 2035 Lexus will only offer electric vehicles.