Toyota EV coming to the U.S. in 2012?

Toyota's FT-EV concept

Toyota has announced that they will be selling a new pure electric vehicle in the U.S. by 2012. We're guessing that it could be a production version of the FT-EV concept that Toyota showed at the Detroit Auto Show. Based on the iQ urban runabout sold overseas, the diminutive city car could meet some of Toyota's stated goals pretty easily. Toyota's national alternative-fuel vehicle manager, Bill Reinert, said the company is "looking for a 50-mile range right now," even when features like the defroster, heater, windshield wipers and stability control are in operation.
The car is expected to be powered by lithium-ion batteries. Reinert wants a charge time of about six hours using a conventional 110-volt household outlet or about two hours using a 220-volt outlet. Toyota still hasn't decided whether or not the car will be available for purchase or if it will be lease only. Where and for how much they'll be sold hasn't been ironed out yet either, but we'll be sure to fill in some of the details as they are issued.

Gallery: Detroit 2009: Toyota FT-EV Concept

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req.]

2009 Toyota FT-EV Concept Revealed

EV Concept Confirms Battery-Electric Vehicle in 2012; First of 150 Plug-ins Arrive Late ‘09 to Lease-Fleet Customers; As Many As 10 New Gas-Electric Hybrids by early 2010s

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. today announced that it will display the Toyota FT-EV concept on opening Media Day at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), confirming its plan to launch an urban commuter battery-electric vehicle (BEV) by 2012. This announcement, coupled with its compressed natural gas powered Camry Hybrid concept display at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show, signal Toyota’s intention to broaden the scope of its advanced alternative-fuel vehicle development.

“Now, more than ever, while we are so focused on the pressing issues of the moment, we cannot lose sight of our future,” said Irv Miller, TMS Group Vice President, Environmental and Public Affairs. “Nowhere is this more important than with our industry’s duty and commitment to provide true sustainable mobility with vehicles that significantly reduce fuel consumption, our carbon footprint and overall greenhouse gases.”

The FT-EV concept shares its platform with the revolutionary-new iQ urban commuter vehicle. Already a huge hit in Japan, the iQ is lightweight and seats four passengers in comfort and security, while delivering exceptional mileage, sporty performance, unique refinements and a fun, youthful image.

Toyota’s FT-EV concept imagines an urban dweller, driving up to 50 miles between home, work and other forms of public transportation, such as high-speed rail. Although, for now, the FT-EV remains a pure concept, it represents a natural pairing of product strategies.

“Last summer’s four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline was no anomaly. It was a brief glimpse of our future,” said Miller. “We must address the inevitability of peak oil by developing vehicles powered by alternatives to liquid-oil fuel, as well as new concepts, like the iQ, that are lighter in weight and smaller in size. This kind of vehicle, electrified or not, is where our industry must focus its creativity.”

Although BEVs and new smaller vehicles like the iQ will be a key component of Toyota’s sustainable mobility strategy, the conventional gas-electric hybrid, like the all new third-generation Prius, is considered Toyota’s long-term core powertrain technology.
Last year, Toyota announced that it planned to sell one million gas-electric hybrids per year sometime during the early 2010s. To accomplish this, Toyota will launch as many as 10 new hybrid models by the early 2010s, in various global markets. The new third-generation Toyota Prius and all new Lexus HS250h, both debuting in Detroit, are the first two examples of that effort.
Also, last year, Toyota announced that it would roll-out a large number of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) to global lease-fleet customers in 2010. That schedule has been moved up.
Beginning in late 2009, Toyota will start global delivery of 500 Prius PHVs powered by lithium-ion batteries. Of these initial vehicles, 150 will be placed with U.S. lease-fleet customers.
The first-generation lithium-ion batteries powering these PHVs will be built on an assembly line at Toyota’s PEVE (Panasonic EV Energy Company, LTD)
battery plant, a joint-venture production facility in which Toyota owns 60 percent equity. During its development, the new Prius was designed and engineered to package either the lithium-ion battery pack with plug-in capability, or the nickel-metal hydride battery for the conventional gas-electric system.
The 500 PHVs arriving globally in late 2009 will be used for market and engineering analysis. Lease–fleet customers will monitor the performance and durability of the first-generation lithium-ion battery, while offering real world feedback on how future customers might respond to the plug-in process.

“Future customers will have high expectations for these emerging technologies. This Prius PHV fleet program is a key first step in confirming how and when we might bring large numbers of plug-in hybrids to global markets,” said Miller.
“Our business is no longer about simply building and selling cars and trucks. It is about finding solutions to mobility challenges today and being prepared for more daunting challenges in our very near future.”

2009 Toyota FT-EV Concept - Hi-res. Images

Toyota FT-EV at Detroit

The iQ has upped its game! An all-electric version of the city car was revealed at Detroit, called the FT-EV concept. Featuring an all-new electric drive train, the range is limited to around 50-miles.  
Following the announcement this year of Toyota’s first operating loss in 71 years, the FT-EV is likely to see production in 2012, and kick-start a move towards an entire range of zero emissions vehicles.
But it’s not just electric cars that are occupying Toyota’s engineers. Starting with the all-new Prius unveiled this week, the Japanese manufacturer intends to sell a million hybrids a year after 2010 and introduce up to 10 new fuel-efficient models over the next few years.

Toyota iQ-based FT-EV battery-electric concept headed for NAIAS

Toyota FT-EV Concept

Media days for the Detroit Auto Show begin in the morning, but a steady flow of information continues to pour forth from the automakers... some of it through embargo leaks, and some of it by design. Falling into the latter category is word from Toyota that the automaker will show a battery electric concept vehicle dubbed FT-EV.
Based on the iQ urban runabout, the diminutive city car will take to the stage alongside the 2010 Prius and the Lexus HS250h. According to the Japanese automaker, a production urban vehicle based on the concept is in the cards by 2012, and as many as ten different gas-electrics will be available from the company by "early 2010s." In the meantime, Toyota plans to roll out some 500 plug-in Prius hatchbacks worldwide, with 150 of those earmarked for U.S. fleet clients. Lease-only deliveries of these lithium-ion vehicles will begin late this year. Hit the jump for Toyota's official press release.

Gallery: Detroit 2009: Toyota FT-EV Concept

Toyota FT-EV

Toyota revealed at the Detroit Auto Show the FT-EV concept, a preview version of the future urban commuter battery-electric vehicle (BEV) by set to be revealed 2012. The FT-Ev is build on the same platform as the iQ and according to the company will be used for driving up to 50 miles. Toyota did not released any details on the concept's specifications. The iQ and the future BEV will be a key component of Toyota’s sustainable mobility strategy, and the conventional gas-electric (...)

$25,000 electric car set for Australia

An electric car costing only $25,000 could be on sale in Australia within three years.
The world's leading hybrid car maker, Toyota, used the 2009 Detroit motor show to unveil the Toyota FT-EV, a concept car that previews a new battery-electric “urban commuter” vehicle set to go on sale in 2012.
US media is reporting the diminutive Toyota FT-EV electric car could wear an affordable price tag of about US$20,000 (about $25,000).

The FT-EV electric vehicle will see Toyota join the growing number of manufacturers who in the early years of the next decade will offer vehicles that run on electricity.
The FT-EV is based on Toyota’s iQ micro-car that landed in European and Japanese showrooms in 2008, though swaps that car’s 1.0-litre petrol engine for a 45kW electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery pack.
Toyota says the three-metre-long, four-seater FT-EV has a cruising range of 80km and a targeted top speed of 112km/h.
It takes between 2.5 and 7.5 hours to recharge the Toyota FT-EV electric car, depending on the voltage of the power supply.
Toyota says the FT-EV will broaden its range of alternative-fuel vehicles as the world faces dwindling oil supplies, and will be aimed at city residents who would use the battery-electric car to commute between home and work, or to drive to other forms of public transport such as railway stations.
“Last year’s [2008's] spike in the price of petrol was no anomaly,” says Toyota Motor Sales group vice president, environmental and public affairs, Irv Miller.
“It was a brief glimpse of our future. We must address the inevitability of peak oil [when the world’s oil supply starts a permanent decline] by developing vehicles powered by alternatives to liquid-oil fuel, as well as new concepts, like the iQ, that are lighter in weight and smaller in size. This kind of vehicle, electrified or not, is where our industry must focus its creativity.”
Toyota FT EVToyota FT EVToyota FT EV concept car from 2009 Detroit motor show
Toyota says its petrol-electric hybrid vehicles – such as the third-generation Toyota Prius hybrid car also revealed at the 2009 Detroit motor show – will continue to be at the centre of the company’s long-term sustainable motoring program.
Toyota will introduce 10 new petrol-electric hybrid models by the early 2010s in various markets as it targets one-million hybrid sales per year.
Toyota also used the Detroit show to announce it was fast-forwarding its plug-in hybrid program from 2010 to 2009.
Towards the end of 2009, Toyota will deliver 500 Prius plug-in hybrids to global fleet-lease customers as part of a mass-production feasibility study.
The Prius plug-in hybrid (PHV) is different to the petrol-electric Prius that has become the world’s best-selling hybrid. The Prius PHV can only recharge its lithium-ion battery pack through a power outlet, whereas the current Prius recharges its nickel-metal hydride battery via its 1.5-litre petrol engine.
The FT-EV won’t be the first electric Toyota to go into production. The company sold an all-electric version of the RAV4 softroader in the US between 1997 and 2003.

Toyota FT-EV

Toyota announced today that it will display the Toyota FT-EV concept at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, January 11 – 25, hinting that it might offer an urban all-electric commuter vehicle in the next few years. The FT-EV concept shares its platform with the company’s minicar, the Toyota iQ.
Toyota introduced the gas-version of the iQ in Japan in November 2008, and plans to roll out the minicar to Europe this month. Plans for North America are undetermined. The iQ is larger than the quintessential minicar, the Smart Fortwo, but not by much. Its wheelbase is a little more than five inches longer, and on the whole, the car is only about a foot longer than the Smart—11.4 inches to be exact. The iQ is a four-passenger vehicle while the Smart only carries two.
The electric version on display at the Detroit Auto Show, the Toyota FT-EV concept, offers driving range of 50 miles, according to Toyota.
“Last summer’s four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline was no anomaly. It was a brief glimpse of our future,” said Irv Miller, group vice president of environmental and public affairs at Toyota. The company is expected to dabble with pure electric and smaller vehicles like the iQ, but conventional gas-electric hybrids, like the Prius, are considered Toyota’s long-term core powertrain technology.

Last year, Toyota announced that it planned to sell one million gas-electric hybrids per year sometime during the early 2010s. To accomplish this, Toyota is expected to launch as many as 10 new hybrid models in the next few years. The company has not made any firm commitments to bring an electric car to market.

Toyota EV Teaser Image Previews New Exhausting Marketing Campaign [Detroit Auto Show]

Earlier today, we heard about a Toyota EV Concept set to debut at next month's Detroit Auto Show. Now we get the first image in what we assume will be an agonizing teaser campaign.

The pocket-sized all-electric city car will be showing its stuff at the Detroit Auto Show and if history is our guide, Toyota will be dribbling out closeup images of inconsequential parts of the car all the way up to the reveal, just like the new Prius. After carefully doling out images for a few weeks, they'll accidentally spill images of the whole car all over the internet, then they'll keep putting out teaser images like nothing happened. I love what you do for me, Toyota! [KickingTires]

Toyota to Unveil EV Concept at Detroit Auto Show

Toyota announced this morning that the automaker is going to unveil a new electric vehicle concept at the Detroit Auto Show next month.

Other than the single image of the logo and a very short press release (two sentences), Toyota did not release any other details about the new concept. The EV Concept will share the stage with the all-new 2010 Prius.

Related Stories:
More Photos of the 2010 Toyota Prius Show up on the Web

PRESS RELEASE:

TORRANCE, Calif., Dec. 22 -- Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. will display a battery electric vehicle concept at the 2009 North American International Auto Show. This display marks the world debut of this concept vehicle.

Toyota FT-EV Concept - Auto Shows

Toyota to debut some sort of electric something in Detroit.

Toyota announced today its intention to debut an all-new electric-vehicle concept at January’s Detroit auto show. The vehicle will be called the FT-EV, and the single image released shows only the badge, affixed to a translucent, amber­-colored surface. As to the vehicle’s actual identity, FT is simply Toyota shorthand for ‘future,’ so the FT-EV could be anything, really.

To wit, Toyota showed the FT-HS sports-car concept—HS for Hybrid Sports—at the 2007 Detroit auto show. The FT prefix was also applied to the FT-SX concept, which eventually morphed into the production Venza crossover, as well as the FTX concept, which became the current Tundra pickup.