this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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Technology
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So they're going to double their battery's range in 3 years time ? Uhuh.
I'll believe that tech when I see it. Panasonic, BYD and LG Chem have spent literally decades incrementally improving batteries, and spending many billions on it over the years.
So unless this is a battery tech they're bringing in from one of the battery powerhouses then I'm hugely skeptical that Toyota can suddenly magic up a breakthrough when they've had their battery tech outsourced to date.
Toyota were once a leader and are now seriously behind the curve. I can't imagine a company who is still hedging their bets with hydrogen can get back in the lead. At absolute best they can manage to survive while sliding down the sales charts every year
Don't underestimate them. They do hold the most number of patents in solid state battery. They weren't exactly sitting idle over the past few decades.
Former glories: like I said, they once were a leader.
They're not now, and it's damn hard to catch up when you've fallen behind.
I think it's largely a brand image thing.
Toyota has built their brand around reliability and affordability. If they try to follow Tesla's lead and launch a luxury car first, people won't buy it. I don't think the Lexus brand will do it either, because I don't think they can stand behind their reliability promises. When Chevy has cars catch on fire, people just say, "well, that's just Chevy being Chevy." If Toyota has cars catch on fire, people will pull away from the brand stating that the company has lost its focus on quality.
So my take is that EVs are currently a niche among tech enthusiasts, but that's changing. And as EVs get more and more into the mainstream, Toyota will get into it as well. They seem intent on waiting until solid state batteries are a thing, and then I expect them to roll out to hybrids first and then one EV model (like they did with Prius when hybrids first launched, and like they're doing now with bZ4X), then continue rolling out to other models.
Toyota is still a top manufacturer, so it's not like EV companies are eating their lunch. Go try and get a Rav4 or something at MSRP, and you just won't be able to because they're incredibly popular.