Daily Management Review

Demand And Technology Surge Yet Profitability From EV Seems A Difficult Task


06/22/2019


Pushed by demand Toyota aims at speeding up its EV schedule.



The Toyota Motor Corp has put up an aim of turning fifty percent its sales to EV vehicles by the year of 2025, whereby pushing the aim five years ahead of the schedule, while it may also collaborate with “Chinese battery makers” for accommodating “an accelerated shift to electric power”.
 
The change of plan is an indicator of the speed at which the EV market is growing whereby transforming the “global auto industry”. Furthermore, the top car manufacturer of Japan has also acknowledged that it may need external help to “meet demand for batteries”.
 
The gap may be seen in “Toyota’s battery needs” and its producing capacity since the “Europe, Japan and China” are likely to tighten further the “emissions regulations” given the fuel demand at hand, cautioned the “Executive Vice President Shigeki Terashi”.
 
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd, a Chinese manufacturer of batteries, lies on top of Toyota’s list for possible collaboration while “Chinese EV maker BYD Co Ltd” too features in the list for supply.
 
Toyota has announced an “ultra-compact two-seater” which has been created keeping in mind “daily errands and short-distance business trips” that has a capacity of “a maximum speed of 60 km” per hour as well as a “range of 100 km on a single charge”. Nevertheless, Terashi also mentioned even though demand is accelerating EV market, “profitability will be slower in coming”.
 
The technology for electric vehicles have treaded a long distance from the year of 2010, yet arriving at profitability through this technology seems to still be challenge for businesses, added Terashi. By 2025, hybrid cars will be sold less than EVs.
 
Toyota has invested in technologies for “hybrid and fuel cell” cars, while its rivals like “Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Volkswagen AG and Tesla Inc” are trailing along in creating “fully electric vehicles to showrooms”. Toyota, on the other hand, has been attempting to develop “its own lithium-ion EV battery technology for decades”. Panasonic Corp has been a partner of Toyota in this endeavour of pooling “resources to develop and manufacture rectangular-shaped prismatic batteries in the coming years”.
 
 
References:
reuters.com