Toyota investing $35B in EVs, CEO says

Toyota announced that it will invest 4 trillion yen, or about $35 billion, into 30 models of battery-powered electric vehicles by 2030. 

The Japanese automaker’s CEO Akio Toyoda said Tuesday it is also aiming to increase its global sales of electric vehicles by 3.5 million cars a year by 2030, CNBC reported. 

“In this diversified and unchartered era, it is important to flexibly change the types and quantities of products produced, while keeping an eye on the market trends,” Toyoda said during a press briefing, CNBC reported.

“We believe that quickly adapting to changes in the future is more important than trying to predict the future, which is nothing but uncertain,” Toyoda continued. “We want to keep options available for our customers until the right path is known.”

Toyota plans to have battery electric vehicles make up 100 percent of sales for its luxury brand Lexus in Europe, North America and China by 2030 and globally by 2035, according to CNBC.  

The majority of the car company’s current electric vehicle sales are hybrid cars that run on both an internal combustion engine and battery-operated motors.

The news comes after Toyota chose not to join a group of six major car companies, including Ford, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, in signing a declaration at the COP26 summit in Scotland last month to transition all car and van sales to 100 percent zero emissions by 2040.

A Toyota executive reportedly told Reuters that the company wants to be seen as a carbon-neutral automaker as opposed to an electric vehicle maker. 

Toyoda said that the company hopes to achieve carbon-neutrality at its manufacturing locations by 2035, CNBC reported.