Toyota cars to go electric by 2025 as it aims to cut CO2 emissions

Toyota has become the latest car giant to throw its full weight behind electric vehicles, saying every Toyota or Lexus model will come with an electric option by 2025.

The company stole a lead on rivals 20 years ago with the launch of its Prius hybrid, which uses a conventional engine and electric motor systems, but currently the Japanese business has no all-electric vehicles.

As part of the new strategy Toyota, which sold 10.2m vehicles last year, said that by 2030 it aimed to have annual sales of 5.5m “electrified vehicles”, which have either battery, fuel cell, or hybrid power systems. Of these, 1m will be zero-emission vehicles.

Toyota has previously said that under its 2050 “environmental challenge” initiative, it has set itself a “mid to long-term” target of reducing CO2 emissions from new cars by 90pc from 2010 levels.

Shigeki Terashi, executive vice-president, said the company’s new electric vehicles would first go on sale in China. The Beijing government offers a range of subsidies to encourage the development of the technology and the country is a leader in the sale of electric vehicles. A “gradual introduction” of the company’s electric vehicles in Japan, India,the US and Europe is also expected.

Last week Toyota announced a tie-up with Panasonic to develop batteries and Mr Terashi called this partnership "a crucial piece" of the electrification plans.

The Mirai, the first mass-produced fuel-cell vehicle and which is powered by liquid hydrogen, was developed by Toyota and the company is also keen to widen the use of this form of power.

“Social infrastructure” around electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles and how they can be encouraged is also being investigated. Plans for this include creating a system to make it more efficient to reuse batteries, along with the introduction of more charging points and hydrogen refuelling stations.

The company will invest 1.5 trillion yen (£10bn) to achieve its green goals, with half of this amount being spent on developing batteries.

Toyota's announcement makes it the latest car company to say electric vehicles will be available across its entire range. In July Volvo made headlines when it became the first of the major manufacturers to do so.