Toyota to develop EV-only car platform to rival Tesla

Toyota Motor Corp. will develop an EV-only platform to cut costs, and raise production efficiency and competitiveness to directly compete with industry leader Tesla.

The strategy is a radical shift gear in how it manufactures electric vehicles..

The Japanese carmaker is moving to mass-produce EVs in anticipation of a rapid increase in consumer demand given recent gas price surges.

Last year, Toyota introduced the bZ4X, its first EV-only model based on a dedicated platform.

However, the bZ4X platform has similar features to those used for gasoline-fueled or hybrid cars, giving it a complicated shape, with uneven surfaces where the engine block can be mounted. It also has parts that are unnecessary for electric vehicles.

Consequently, manufacturing costs for Toyota are higher than those for Tesla’s EV-only car platform, so it decided to design a new one from scratch.

The new EV-only platform will be flat like a skateboard, as no engine will be mounted directly onto it, making it ideal to mass-produce EVs and reduce costs.

Toyota has yet to decide when it will launch an electric vehicle using the new car platform.

Toyota hopes to market 30 electric models in 2030, with projected annual global sales of 3.5 million electric vehicles by the same year.

Meawnhile, Toyota will accelerate the production and development of electric vehicles until it completes the new EV-only car platform.

Toyota manufactures the bZ4X at its Motomachi factory in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, where it will increase production mainly to export to North America.