Toyota and Lexus: No Giant Batteries, Yes Downsizing.
Irrespective of its peculiar name, the Lexus LF-ZC Concept which made an appearance during the Japan Mobility Show last week deserves wide attention. Upon its manufacture in 2026, it will be Toyota’s very first electric vehicle based on a brand-new platform; the innovative steering-by-wire technology deployed and a rumoured 620 miles of all-electric range are unprecedented features.
Nevertheless, it is not going to employ some behemoth battery setup which has a weight analogous to an entire abode. Rather, it will largely rely on chemical reactions to fulfill its sense of greatness with regards to the magnitude of range promised.
As a part of the automobile exhibition pomp, Toyota welcomed multiple international media outlets, including InsideEVs, to its country last 7-day period. During this trip, the major carmaker unveiled a range of upcoming technology concepts, such as a faked “manual transmission” for electrical autos, an advanced artificial intelligence in-car aide and its electric vehicle battery plans for the subsequent years.
In terms of the latter, whilst both executives and engineers remained tight-lipped on details, they were emphatic that Toyota would not be venturing down the road of massive kilowatt hour batteries for added range like a number of its rivals have done. Allegedly, the LF-ZC has a range of 1,000 kilometers (approx. 620 miles) when tested in accordance with the China Light Duty Vehicle Test Cycle, which is dissimilar to the EPA testing cycle adopted in the US.
The controversy over whether 1,000 kilometers is accurate, proper or not, is not the main point of focus. Takashi Watanabe, President of Lexus International, stated in an enlightening conversation held together with journalists, which was seconded by an interpreter, that “Having 1,000 kilometers, what could we make possible? This illustrates our manufacturing abilities while establishing that precedent… To develop something, it is essential to set out an aim, a standard; if not, everything else cannot be sorted.”
Watanabe declared that the design hinged on featuring a roughly 80-kilowatt-hour battery – regarded as a medium or large battery, yet greatly less than something like GMC Hummer’s tremendous 200-kilowatt-hour battery.
If we affirm that this automobile is capable of going 1,000 kilometers, then placing additional batteries in it – although leading to the car being heavier and costlier – would not necessitate any kind of technological challenge, Watanabe stated.
It’s a matter of opinion whether drivers truly “require” the kind of EV range that is currently available – the typical American driver only covers an average of 40 miles per day in their car. This discussion, however, is often associated with battery components, resource scarcities and ecological sustainability. Although electric vehicles are shown to generate significantly lower life-cycle carbon discharges than vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, EVs with larger batteries need more resources to manufacture and more energy for charging, making them less efficient and not as sustainable as batteries of a more reasonable size.
In Japan, Toyota reexamined the battery growth plan presented in September. To demonstrate what they wished to achieve, the vehicle association deployed their existing lithium-ion 64-kilowatt-hour batteries, which have a potential range of 615 km on the CLTC index, as foundation. Toyota claimed these batteries could recharge from 10 percent to 80 percent capacity in about 30 minutes.
It is anticipated that Toyota’s forthcoming battery models will be equipped with the newest prismatic lithium-ion batteries showcasing twice the range of the bZ4x, reduced costs amounting to 20%, and eased charging times of only 20 minutes from a 10 to 80% charge. The “performance” batteries are expected to become available in 2026, coming in two packs with one tailored for SUVs and another more suitable for smaller cars and sports cars.
Toyota is committing to making several advancements related to their batteries. To start off, they are trying to enhance the energy capacity and employ different kinds of packaging such as transferring the terminals. As part of that, Toyota hopes to produce a “favorite” derivative of batteries utilizing more affordable lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells, resembling what Rivian, Tesla, BYD, and Ford are doing. These LFP cells are seen to offer 20 percent longer range than on the bZ4x, whilst costing 40 percent cheaper, and enabling a quick charge in 30 minutes. Expect to see these available between 2026 and 2027.
Concerning Toyota’s approach in attaining their target, it still remains somewhat of a secret from a scientific view. Having said that, they are purported to use a more confined “bipolar infrastructure” compared to the existing monopolar batteries and, for their performance batteries, a great quantity of nickel cathodes.
Immersing itself in the race to produce groundbreaking solid-state batteries, Toyota is among a handful of automakers such as BMW and Nissan striving for the ultimate goal. With aspirations to produce 20 percent more power than existing performance lithium-ion packs and enable swift charging times of just 10 minutes, the company is also desiring to go beyond this by creating better solid-state batteries that have 50 percent greater range than the high-power lithium-ion models. Although there is still no news on the cost of these two variations, Toyota hopes to make these revolutionary batteries operationally available sometime in the next seven to eight years.
Despite the claims that Toyota has made in past years, the reality is that these promised advances in solid-state battery technology have yet to appear. This only serves as additional evidence of the automaker’s lag in the worldwide Electric Vehicle (EV) market.
Nonetheless, Toyota has declared that one of the aspects crucial to attaining their range aspirations is cutting down on the dimensions of several elements in the vehicle – something which may potentially be the LF-ZC’s hidden capability.
Simon Humphries, Lexus’ Chief Branding Officer, declared that the Japanese automaker had deliberately chosen an alluring sedan design; this forced their engineers to consider how they could reach such a wide range objective within the constricting packaging restrictions. By “minimizing the core components,” as Lexus terms it, including the guidance system (hence the digital-only steer-by-wire system) and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning unit, the inventors can craft extra interior room and house flatter, skinnier batteries with higher energy density. Furthermore, it will be the first Toyota EV produced with gigacasting and autonomous operations through an assembly line for swifter, slimmer fabrication.
Watanabe confirmed his recognition of the fact that Lexus and Toyota, generally, remain lagging behind certain contenders; the LF-ZC gives off a definite sense of a Mercedes EQE in a number of ways. Nevertheless, he underlined that these circumstances are evolving much faster nowadays than people give credit for, and that regardless of some occasional disparity in global acceptance, the business enterprise has no intention to be left behind in the electric vehicle competition.
Presently, there is an ongoing discourse about the marketplace’s speed and the internal talks about the product rhythm which I think are intensifying, declared Watanabe.
To get in touch with the writer, you may email Patrick George at patrick.george@insideevs.com. He is eager to hear from you and discuss any further inquiries that you might have regarding his work.
