Toyota has turned the table of Electric Vehicle, writes Kelechi Deca
The company seem to have woken up from their lethargy. After foot-dragging on either going full scale into the EV battleground or pursue other Toyotaesque dreams like the Hydrogen fuel combustion engine.
But unveiling an EV Luxury vehicle that can go for 1000 kilometers on a single charge has upped the ante.
Actually, Toyota pioneered modern electric vehicle, but got laidback after taking the lead in the launch of the Toyota Prius in 1997, which opened the door for the re-emergence and development of hybrid vehicles.
I wrote re-emergence because electric vehicles even predate internal combustion engine, a fact many are unaware of. It is worthy of note that Frederic Porsche developed the world’s first hybrid car while Thomas Edison even partnered with friend and former employee Henry Ford to build an affordable EV.
The world’s first experimental electric vehicles (EVs) emerged in Hungary, the Netherlands, and the UK around the 1830s. The first electric vehicle was displayed at an industry conference in 1835 by a British inventor by the name of Robert Anderson. Robert Anderson’s vehicle used a disposable battery powered by crude oil to turn the wheels. But the first practical EV was American inventor William Morrison’s vehicle in 1890.
As a result, electric cars quickly became popular with urban residents where electricity was readily available and as more people gained access to electricity, the more popular they became.
To think that almost 133 years after, as the world is turning back to Electric Vehicles, some people in some countries have been so left behind that they still do not have electricity for their homes, not to talk of electricity to charge their cars.
Imaging living in a mentally cavelike society still clutching iphone 15 Pro Max. Do not forget also that Michael Faraday invented the electric motor in 1821, and Georg Ohm mathematically analysed the electrical circuit in 1827.
While William Morrison was working on his electric-powered carriage, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz simultaneously developed the world’s first combustion engine automobiles in 1886 in Germany. However, gasoline-powered cars required the driver to change gears and start the vehicle with a heavy hand crank.
People complained that the engine made by Daimler and Benz are far noisier than their steam or electric cousins and emitted pollutants from their exhausts. Is it not interesting that today, efforts are being made to integrate vehicle noise to electric vehicles as some people are complaining that they do not like the quiet drive.
At the turn of the 20th century, there were more Electric Vehicles on the road than petroleum powered ICE vehicles. However, Ford launched its highly innovative assembly line which turned the table and changed things in favour of ICE vehicles thus pushing our electric vehicles into the dustbin of history.
This got to its height with the discovery of oil in Texas; gasoline became cheap and readily available for many, while electricity only remained available in cities.
Then the Yum Kippur War between Israel and her Arab neighbours in October 1973 caused a global surge in oil prices and shortages reached a new high. This forced some car companies back to the drawing board, and in Japan in 1997, the Prius became the world’s first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle, and it became an instant success.
However, in 2003, two entrepreneurs, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning
understudied the Toyota Prius, and saw a bigger opportunity. Watching the growth of lithium-ion battery capacity in their previous venture, Eberhard and Marc set up an automobile company named Tesla Motors in 2003 and in 2006, they announced it would start producing a luxury electric sports car that could go more than 320 km on a single charge.
Elon Musk, co-founder of Paypal, led the initial rounds of investing for Tesla before taking over as CEO. In 2008, Tesla released its first electric car, the Roadster.
With Tesla’s success, Nissan raised the competition with its launch of the Nissan LEAF in 2010, the first all-electric, zero-emission car which became one of the world’s all-time top-selling EVs.
Interestingly, this is October 2023, the 50th anniversary of the Yum Kippur War in the Middle East, also known as The October War. And another war is going on between Israel and her neighbours in October.
But while the war 50 years ago led to a major change in the automobile industry, this one if it escalates, may also hasten the shift away from fossil fuel and ICE and Toyota has taken the lead with the unveiling this morning of its new Lexus concept car which promises with a roughly 1000km range.
With this development, Toyota has announced a major innovative breakthrough with its advanced battery technology which uses “prismatic, high-performance” batteries that achieve around twice the range of conventional EVs — or around 1 000km. According to Toyota, it was achieved through a minimalization and reduction across the board, including smaller, more efficient batteries with more power and more range.
Toyota also said that it studied existing models of EV cars and pushed her engineering and technical team to come up with solutions that will overcome those problems which includes the launch of the next-generation lithium-ion batteries that offer longer ranges and quicker charging.
It also said it had achieved a “breakthrough” in overcoming problems with the durability in solid-state batteries. It aims to sell vehicles powered by solid-state batteries — considered a potential “game changer” for the industry because of their range and performance — by 2027 or 2028.
The Electric Lexus LF-ZC sports uses advanced AI technology that Toyota has dubbed “Butler”. The AI system is able to identify preferences that drivers may not be aware of themselves.
In 2022, EV sales increased by 60 percent from the previous year to a new record of 10.6 million. Over 14% of global car sales were electric in 2022. Although China continues to have the largest EV stocks in terms of numbers, but many European countries drive EV sales, representing most of the top markets for EV sales.
Presently, Norway has the highest EV penetration, with nearly 80 percent of new cars sold in the country being fully electric and is expected to hit the milestone of 100 percent electric vehicle sales as early as 2025—the first country in the world to do so.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that the total fleet of EVs (excluding two/three-wheelers) will grow from almost 30 million in 2022 to about 240 million in 2030, achieving an average annual growth rate of about 30%.
The European Union has announced that all new cars sold from 2035 should have zero emissions. The US government said EVs will make up half of all new vehicle fleet electric by 2030. Canada, the UK, Japan, and multiple states in the US and member states in the EU have made moves to limit ICE sales or ban them altogether.
But it may not be so fast for the rest of the world. Especially Africa where over 600million people still lack electricity.
Even some automobile manufacturing firms such as GM plans to stop making ICE cars, vans, and SUVs by 2035. Cadillac, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes, Mini, Volvo, and Volkswagen have all made similar commitments.