Toyota is optimistic about the pure electric vehicle (EV) market and is planning to enter this market. The company wants to expand to the new markets other than hybrid cars and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) to compete with well-known car firms like BMW and Tesla as well as challenge Leaf’s leading position in Japan.

Toyota is expected to set up EV development and design departments in 2017 and will integrate the Group’s resources and conduct mass production as soon as possible, according to Nikkei Chinese website. The company will coordinate the platform technology of Prius and Corolla and focus on producing a pure EV that will travel 300 kilometers or more on a charge. On the other hand, since SUV models are quite popular, Toyota is considered launching SUV version of pure EVs. Meanwhile, Toyota will accelerate the development progress for the battery material technology department which they established in January 2016. They will also consider purchasing their core components overseas to strengthen the battery performance of EVs.

(Photo Credit: Toyota)

(Written by Rhea Tsao, translated by Christine Chen)