Executives said development lead time for the bZ4X was about 30 percent shorter than for a traditional Toyota model. And the company expects to slash another 15 percent off the lead time of subsequent EV offerings.
To deliver the electrified vehicles, Operating Officer Jun Nagata said Toyota will require greater battery supplies. It will need 30 times the current amount of battery power, in terms of gigawatt-hours.
That will increasingly require Toyota to aquire batteries regionally, possibly from local sources in the U.S., Nagata said. Supply may be in-house or external, he added.
Said Nagata: “We will make aggressive investments so that we can realize that.”