Toyota pledges massive investments into electric vehicles

The world is switching to electric vehicles, and Toyota Motor Corp (LON: TYT) wants a piece of it.

On Tuesday, the leading Japanese automaker said it will spend $35 billion to add thirty new all-electric vehicles to its product portfolio by the end of this decade.

$4.4 billion to be spent on battery technologies

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By 2030, Toyota said it wants to be globally selling 3.5 million electric vehicles per year. It has so far focused on hybrid technology, with EVs accounting for only a fraction of its worldwide sales.   

In its statement this morning, Toyota also confirmed that it will direct $4.4 billion out of the total investment in electric vehicles to battery technologies (capital expenditure and research & development).

Its luxury vehicle division, Toyota added, will be producing electric vehicles only by 2035. Lexus will hit the same milestone in North America, Europe, and China, about five years earlier.

Another $35 billion will go to other types of EVs

Interestingly, Toyota is pledging another $35 billion investment into hybrid vehicles and EVs that use hydrogen as a fuel. According to CEO Akio Toyoda, new investments in electric vehicles is the right step for the automaker in the right direction.

In this diversified and unchartered era, it’s important to flexibly change the types of products produced while keeping an eye on the market trends. Quickly adapting to changes is more important than trying to predict the future. We want to keep options available for our customers.

The world’s 2^nd largest carmaker is rather late in its efforts towards all-electric vehicles compared to its U.S. rivals like Ford Motor and General Motors. Shares of the Aichi-headquartered company were up more than 1.0% on Tuesday.