How to fluff a gigafactory rebrand? Ask Toyota

The start of this month saw Japanese OEM Toyota hold a ceremony to mark the rebranding of battery firm Peve, which became a wholly-owned Toyota subsidiary in March, as Toyota Battery. The event, held at the  Kosai Battery Park, could have been an opportunity for the firm to reassure that it has a clear plan for when BEV becomes the dominant technology in new car sales globally.

Being Toyota, however, it once again completely fluffed its lines. There was some indication of a realisation of how important it will be to get batteries right, recognising that they will be “the most critical technology for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050”.

And there was also realism about how Japan has fallen behind in the global battery race. “In recent years… a market expansion has been accompanied by the rapid growth of Chinese and South Korean companies. With improved quality, their competitively priced batteries have upended the existing market share,” Toyota admits.

Bringing battery making fully in-house under the Toyota Battery banner will “spearhead” the group’s battery business and “also strive to boost Japan’s competitiveness in this important field”.

But where the firm continues to throw up red flags is what it expects these batteries to do. “It goes without saying that we will contribute to the multi-pathway strategy with batteries for HEVs, PHEVs and BEVs,” says Toyota Battery president Masamichi Okada.

As EV inFocus has said before, hybrids are an excellent transition product, as evidence by Toyota’s sales of and profits form the technology. But they are also a dangerous band-aid unless firms recognise that there is no future in putting two drivetrain technologies under the same car’s bonnet and they are useful only to give OEMs time to prepare for a largely all-electric future in the 2030s.

With BEV mentioned almost as an afterthought, Toyota shows no signs of having grasped that hybrids have a limited window of utility. But, as so often with the Japanese OEM, it gets worse, as the firm’s obsession with hydrogen is also in the mix. The Kosai plant will also be used to produce “secondary batteries for fuel cell vehicles”, according to Okada.

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“In addition, we want to explore all possible ways of supporting Toyota’s commitment to developing hydrogen-engine vehicles, including the potential for batteries to extend the cruising range or reduce fuel tank size,” he continues.

For those who desperately want Toyota to focus its genius for producing affordable and desirable mass-market vehicles on future BEVs, it is yet more depressing reading.