Toyota has revealed that it is debuting three electrified versions of its vehicles in the United States this year. While the automaker has not named the models of the vehicles it is launching, it said two of them are fully electric, while the other is a plug-in hybrid. It is a step towards one of the company’s goals, which is that 40% of all new vehicle sales will be electrified models by 2025. The automaker also intends to sell electrified models Toyota and Lexus (its luxury brand) throughout the world in the same year.
In December, the company launched a new all-electric EV that will be launched this year on the European market. It is about the size of a RAV4 or Forester and is based on its e-TNGA platform, which will serve as a modular architecture for your electric vehicles. Toyota did not say if this same vehicle is one of the three, but it is important to note that the model in the right photo looks like the plug-in hybrid RAV4 Prime that was launched last year.
In its announcement, Toyota also shared some results of an internal survey assessing the environmental impact between a fully electric vehicle and a plug-in hybrid. The company found that the greenhouse gas emissions of the all-electric and plug-in models available today are almost the same when you take into account the pollutants created by the production of electricity. In addition, the production of plug-ins can even generate less greenhouse gases, since they usually have smaller batteries.
“The bottom line is that a BEV and PHEV can provide similar environmental benefits,” wrote the company. By having a diversified product portfolio with various forms of vehicle electrification, Toyota can allow consumers to choose the model that best suits their usage needs and cost profile, maximizing the total contribution to GHG reduction. “