Toyota working on a new EV-only platform; draws inspiration from Tesla
- Toyota seems to be taking inspiration from Tesla in its effort to increase market share in the global EV market.
Toyota is reportedly working on an entirely new platform dedicated to electric vehicles only. Reuters reports that Toyota's new CEO Koji Sato is set to confirm the all-new EV-only platform. Toyota and the group's luxury car brand Lexus would use this EV-only platform. The report also claims that this EV-only architecture has been influenced by Tesla.
The plan for an EV-only platform for future Toyota electric cars was outlined in February this year after the OEM's former CEO Akio Toyoda handpicked Sato as his successor to lead the company. The new Toyota CEO said that one of his priorities would be to streamline the car's structure and drastically change how the company does business. The new EV-only vehicle architecture is expected to play a crucial role in that strategy.
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The report states that Toyota is looking towards Tesla's innovations in the EV manufacturing industry to take inspiration from. The Japanese car brand is reportedly taking inspiration from Tesla's Giga Press casting machines and other production-related processes to reduce the cost of manufacturing and increase its profit margins.
Until now, Toyota has used the e-TNGA platform for its battery electric cars, the Toyota bZ4X and Lexus RZ. The e-TNGA is a modular vehicle platform and shares several components with internal combustion engine-powered vehicles. Hence, it is not as cost-efficient as a dedicated EV architecture, which the automaker is now working upon. Also, several projects that were supposed to be built on the e-TNGA platform have been reportedly delayed or cancelled as it is not an entirely EV-only architecture.
However, the report also states that despite Toyota working on an entirely new EV-only architecture, it is unwilling to drop the petrol-powered cars from its lineup. Also, it is not even ready to provide a timeline for the ICE-powered vehicles' retirement. The automaker is instead focusing on a diverse powertrain strategy, which will keep the petrol hybrid vehicles as an integral part of the company's business, even when it ramps up EV production.
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