Toyota will launch electric iQ in green push

The Toyota / Scion iQ All-Electric Vehicle

Toyota Motor Company will launch an electric version of its iQ minicar in 2012, targeting urban commuters who drive short distances.

Toyota said the battery-powered iQ will be cheaper than rival electric cars such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV or the Nissan Leaf. Both are larger than the 3+1-seat iQ.

Toyota did not specify a price range for the planned electric car. Prices for the iQ with a gasoline engine start at 12,900 euros (about $17,640) in Germany.

The battery powered iQ will run 105km (65 miles) on a single charge. It will launch in Europe, Japan and the United States. Sales in China are also being considered, the company said.

Toyota is developing the iQ in-house and is also working with luxury electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. on an electric version of its RAV4 compact SUV.

At the Los Angeles auto show this week, a battery-powered RAV4 concept was unveiled that's planned for sale in the United States in 2012. The car has a range of 100 miles (162km) on a single charge.

The electric cars are part of a push by Toyota to boost its range of environmentally friendly vehicles that will include the introduction of 11 hybrids by the end of 2012, including all-new and redesigned models.

A Prius-based plug-in hybrid will also launch by early 2012 in Japan, the United States and Europe, with targeted sales of more than 50,000 units a year, priced at 3 million yen ($36,000) in Japan. The car can be plugged in to an electricity source to enable longer-distance driving using only electricity.

Toyota is also developing a sedan-type fuel-cell hybrid vehicle, with sales aimed to start in 2015 in Japan, the United States and Europe. The company said it is researching development of next-generation batteries with better performance than lithium-ion batteries currently used in electric cars.

"Such research is aimed to help bring about the revolutionary advances in battery performance that will be necessary for the broad adoption of electric-motor-propelled eco-cars," Toyota said in a statement.



Source: Automotive News

Toyota Does About Face, Will Market All Electric Vehicle in 2010

Again, these are the stories we love to report. Apparently Toyota will produce an all-electric IQ vehicle in 2010, said concept being shown at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. What I cannot understand is how Toyota can make this happen in one year, but it takes GM nearly FOUR! Both companies have produced fine EV's in the past, for what that is worth.

From Autocar:

Toyota's iQ-based electric car, due to be launched in 2010, will get its own body style to create a stand-alone model which will become Toyota’s first all-electric car.

Internally called the BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle), the new car will not occupy the same market sector as the iQ and will “get its own bodywork”, according to the iQ’s chief engineer, Hiroki Nakajima. “We wanted to position the iQ as premium,” he said, “but not so the BEV.”

See the Toyota iQ FT-EV picture gallery

The electric iQ will use in-wheel motors and was designed with this in mind. “In every wheel we had to be able to fit an electric motor,” said Nakajima.

The car will also become the first mass-production Toyota to use lithium ion batteries, following the firm’s trial of the technology on plug-in Priuses later this year. Charging time will be around eight hours.

“Our target is for customers to be able to charge it completely during the night,” said Nakajima. He also said the car will have a range of 150km (93 miles).

Meanwhile, the iQ is set to get an upgraded cabin to counter criticism over the quality of its materials. “The iQ will get a much better interior,” said Nakajima. “A lot of buyers think it is much too plasticky.”

The firm is also planning to introduce customisation packages for the iQ in the style of the Fiat 500 and Mini. Nakajima declined to give dates for the changes, but they could coincide with a mid-life facelift due around 2011.