Featured Toyota wins the solid-state race

It still went further than the GM V8 cover-up. Really; found the issue and just asked the 3nd party manufacturer for an additional 12% discount on their products, instead of fixing the problem?????

This seems to be the new normal

 

they did the same thing with the ignition switch problem

 

This article is clickbait. This article is a compendium of Toyota articles by Electrek and they are basing their opinion on what Toyota has said in the past to investors. Interesting to note is their last sentence, "As for the “world’s first,” however, that may be a stretch." This is not unusual, as everyone has to justify joint developments, teaming, acquisitions, etc. to their investors. Toyota's time frame from this announcement (Sumitomo Metal Mining and Toyota Collaborate on Mass Production of Cathode Materials for All-Solid-State Batteries | Corporate | Global Newsroom | Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website) is 2027 to 2028, but like all corporations its a goal. If you read that article its basically an effort to shore up less reliance on Chinese and other external suppliers and more reliance on domestic production. I highly doubt their first launch will be in North America, but Europe since Europe has a hard requirement of all vehicles being zero emission by 2035 (some countries earlier - 2030), about 10 years from now. For conspiracy theorists, I don't own or have ever owned Toyota stock. I used to own Rivian stock, do own Tesla stock and a lot of oil company stocks. Read in that what you may.

 

Exactly... Now here's an example of how you legitimately announce the development of a new product when your PR department takes their job more seriously than their cocaine habit: CATL’s Next-Gen Sodium-Ion Battery Supports 500-km EV Range | Electronic Design

 

So toyota was going to have solid state in a low volume car in 2022, panasonic said it would take at least 10 years from 2017. Now we have this the panasonic 8 year old estimate. I have no idea if toyota will actually produce a solid state batteried vehicle in 2027, but if they do I doubt it will sell well. Let's hope for the best but giving them the prize for first is very premature.

 

Regardless who does this first, my daily drivers will continue to be Toyota hybrids made in Japan. I have not found more reliable and lower TCO vehicles to date.

 

And don't forget how we were all going to start driving their hydrogen fuel cells a decade ago and they could barely sell a couple thousand of them in the US each year and only sold 499 in 2024. Another overhyped Toyota PR department promise that fell flat on its face:

Toyota Mirai sales in US by year:

Year Units sold in U.S.
2015 72 GCBC+2CarFigures+2
2016 1,034 GCBC+2CarFigures+2
2017 1,838 GCBC+2CarFigures+2
2018 1,689 GCBC+1
2019 1,502 GCBC+1
2020 499 GCBC+1
2021 2,629 GCBC+1
2022 2,094 GCBC+1
2023 2,737 GCBC+1
2024 499 CarFigures+1

 

Pull up a map, try to find a hydrogen fueling station. You'll be lucky to be able to hop from station to another station; but go someplace you want to go - Good Luck........

 

But think of proprietary control and all those patent and licensing fees that all the other auto makers would pay them if their dumb executives dream came true and there was a hydrogen pump at every gas station.

As in rather than building a good car that could compete with other auto makers they got greedy and EV car makers passed them buy and they might not ever recover from how many years of EV innovation that they've still yet to achieve even though all the other major car makers have unlocked those achievements. I mean they can't even build an elelectric car without a Frunk yet.

 

I'm replacing the 2017 BMW i3-REx with the 2019 Model 3. The used 2024 Model 3 becomes the new cross country EV, after tuning:

• BMW i3-REx -> 2024 Model 3
• 108 mi EV -> 230-240 mi EV
• 88 mi gas -> not needed due to high density of Tesla compatible chargers
• basic cruise control -> AutoPilot driver assistant
• End of Life BMW control software -> HW 4.0 consistent with current Tesla team
• 3.6 mi/kWh -> +4.5 mi/kWh (after tuning)
• single source tires -> standard 18" rims and rubber
• 4 seats -> 5 seats
• expensive CCS-1 -> more affordable J3400 (SuperCharger)

I bought a $9 k battery for the 2019 Tesla but probably one of the last usable ones in inventory. Tesla doesn't make them any more. So there is no reasonable replacement for the 2019 battery in the future. The 2019 Model 3 has better rims and rubber than the stock 2024 Model 3 but they can be easily swapped. Then I can also do more 'radical' tuning to the 2019 to extend its operational life.

The 2017 BMW i3-REx has been a great City car. My second one, it has fully met my expectations. But BMW lost their mind and let the i3 design team go away. The current BMW EVs are unimpressive and BMW (Bring More Whamum) like Toyota has lost any appeal to me.

Bob Wilson