An upcoming electric car from Toyota will feature a new type of battery that charges faster and significantly increases driving range.
The report comes from Japanese daily newspaper, , which claims Toyota’s long-range EV will ride on an all-new platform and use all-solid-state batteries, which can be recharged in just a few minutes. Electric vehicles currently use lithium-ion batteries, so it will be interesting to see if Toyota manages to push all-solid-state batteries to mainstream production. Although Toyota spokeswoman Kayo Doi said the company would not comment on specific product plans, she did say the company aims to commercialize all-solid-state batteries by the early 2020s.
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While Toyota has developed a reputation for making hybrids and plug-in hybrid vehicles, namely with its Prius family, it chose to develop the hydrogen-powered Mirai instead of a dedicated electric vehicle. The automaker doesn’t even offer an EV in its current lineup now that the RAV4 EV has been discontinued.
The company is reportedly planning to begin mass producing electric vehicles in China as early as 2019. That model, however, will be based on the new C-HR crossover and will use lithium-ion batteries.
[Source: Reuters]
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