<div dir="ltr"><div><p align="left" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:proxima-nova,sans-serif;line-height:26px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:26px"><span lang="en-US" style="box-sizing:border-box">"The world’s largest car manufacturer by volume has been sluggish in its efforts to electrify compared to competitors. But Toyota has just <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-spend-over-135-bln-ev-batteries-by-2030-2021-09-07/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(237,102,41);text-decoration-line:none">announced</a></span><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box"> a huge investment in battery technology that may be a sign it’s shifting course.</span></p><p align="left" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:proxima-nova,sans-serif;line-height:26px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:26px"> <span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">Although Toyota’s Prius hybrid was the first electrified vehicle to really hit the mainstream, the company failed to capitalize on its early lead. It still doesn’t sell a fully electric vehicle in either the US or Japan, at a time when more or less every major automaker—from Volvo to Volkswagen—has at least one model powered by batteries alone.</span></p><p align="left" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:proxima-nova,sans-serif;line-height:26px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:26px"><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">The company seems to be belatedly joining the party after executives announced that it would </span><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/8/22662236/toyota-battery-investment-electric-cars-hybrids-2030" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(237,102,41);text-decoration-line:none"><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">invest $13.6 billion in battery technology</span></a><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box"> over the next decade. This includes $9 billion to be spent on manufacturing, which will see it scale up to 10 </span><span lang="en-US" style="box-sizing:border-box">battery production lines by 2025</span><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box"> and ultimately up to around</span><span lang="en-US" style="box-sizing:border-box"> 70.</span></p><p align="left" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:proxima-nova,sans-serif;line-height:26px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:26px"><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">During </span><a href="https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/35971839.html" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(237,102,41);text-decoration-line:none"><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">a press briefing, </span></a><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">chief technology officer Masahiko Maeda said part of the compan</span><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">y’</span><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">s plan is to reduce the cost of batteries by 30 percent or more through innovations in materials and new designs. They are also working on way</span><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">s</span><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box"> to reduce the amount of energy the car draws from those batteries by 30 percent.</span></p><p align="left" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:proxima-nova,sans-serif;line-height:26px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:26px"><span lang="en-GB" style="box-sizing:border-box">All of this follows from the company’s April <a href="https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/toyota/35083987.html" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(237,102,41);text-decoration-line:none">announcement</a> that it plans to release 70 electric cars around the world by 2025, suggesting that it’s finally joining the consensus among automakers that electric vehicles are the future."</span></p></div><div><a href="https://singularityhub.com/2021/09/13/electrifying-the-future-toyota-puts-over-13-billion-into-battery-technology/">https://singularityhub.com/2021/09/13/electrifying-the-future-toyota-puts-over-13-billion-into-battery-technology/</a><br></div></div>