Shares of Toyota rose after the company announced next-generation batteries for its electric vehicles and other company plans.
Toyota Motor Corp (TYO: 7203) shares rose more than 5% on the Tokyo stock exchange on Tuesday following the company’s EV announcement. Toyota has confirmed that in 2026 it will launch a range of electric vehicles equipped with next-generation batteries.
As of press time, the company’s stock is at ￥2,174 after adding ￥105 from its previous close of ￥2,069. The stock has climbed over 6% in the last 5 days, 13% in one month, and more than 20% over the past three months. Furthermore, Toyota stock is trading at a nearly 20% jump since January.
Reports say Toyota will develop the vehicles under its BEV Factory, an EV arm it created last month. According to an official Toyota presentation by BEV Factory president Takero Kato, Toyota plans to produce around 1.7 million electric vehicles by 2030. Kato also put each vehicle’s range at 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
Toyota’s projection for the range is over 43% higher than the Tesla Model S’ 405 miles, currently Tesla’s longest-range vehicle.
In 2021, Toyota announced plans to invest $35 billion in its EV lineup and roll out 30 models by 2030. In the same year, the company also said it would spend $13.5 billion on battery production for electric vehicles. Although Toyota pioneered hybrid vehicles with its Prius model in 1997, the company has been slow to join the all-electric race. In fact, Toyota had expressed that it wasn’t ready and seemed to downplay public acceptance of EVs.
Last year, executive vice president of sales at Toyota Motor North America, Jack Hollis, said the market does not have the “mass movement” Toyota needs. According to him, “the marketplace isn’t mature enough and ready enough.”
Toyota Batteries for Its Electric Vehicles
Toyota says it has now found a way around creating all-solid-state batteries that solve the durability problem. This discovery is now causing the company to review its conventional HEVs (hybrid electric vehicles), and its battery development for standard electric vehicles.
Solid-state batteries offer more energy and can charge faster. In addition, these batteries are less likely to ignite and may be better preferred than lithium-ion batteries. However, solid-state batteries are very costly to make and are also more prone to cracking.
A Toyota breakthrough with solid-state batteries could change the entire electric vehicle landscape. Pulling off the feat could accelerate its current race against EV giants like Tesla. According to Toyota, an electric vehicle with a solid-state battery could hit a 1,200 km range. In addition, charging could be completed in under 10 minutes. In comparison, the equivalent of Tesla’s Supercharger network is 15 minutes of charging time over a distance of 321 km.
So far, Toyota has not provided any details on the cost. However, since solid-state batteries are expensive to produce, vehicles equipped with these batteries could cost more than the average electric cars in the market today.
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