Next year, Toyota Motor Corporation aims to sell 1.5 million BEVs globally, increasing to 3.5 million by 2030.  

The Japanese giant’s aspirations for its luxury brand Lexus are more lofty, targeting 100% BEV sales in Europe, North America, and China by 2030 and globally by 2035. By the end of the decade Lexus is hoping to sell one million BEVs annually. 

Toyota said more than a year ago it will introduce the latest most advanced lithium iron phosphate packs into its line-up and solid-state lithium-ion power units for new models towards the end of the decade, promising vastly improved driving ranges, charging times and other tech advances.  

Construction of its high-tech factory in Fukuoka, Japan where these next generation batteries were to be produced was put on ice in March however. 

In the US, Toyota’s North Carolina plant – the company’s first in-house battery facility outside Japan – started shipments in April. At the $14 billion project 10 of the 14 assembly lines will be dedicated to plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and conventional hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) models.   

Toyota maintained its title as the world’s top-selling automaker, with nearly 11 million vehicles sold in 2024, but as of now the gap between its electric car ambitions and reality remains a chasm. 

Heavy on HEV   

With registrations of nearly 700,000 passenger EVs including conventional hybrids like the Prius introduced 28 years ago, in January and February this year, the Japanese industrial giant ranks first. 

Toyota found 200,000 more buyers globally than BYD, which relied on PHEVs for nearly 60% of sales, and sold 3.5 times as many units as all-electric Tesla over the first two months of 2025 (the most recent months with detailed data). 

Toyota did manage to grow its PHEV and BEV sales year-on-year by 19% and 35% respectively, outpacing its HEV shipments but the company again underperformed the broader market.   

More than nine out of ten battery packs Toyota moved so far this year were in HEVs, which have minimal or near nonexistent electric-only driving capabilities.  

Adamas data shows, on average, HEVs sold globally across all automakers and models have only a 1.3 kWh battery capacity. 

Sluggish GWh  

In terms of combined battery capacity deployment, a useful indicator of automakers’ fleet electrification efforts alongside unit sales, the Adamas EV Battery Intel Platform reveals newly sold Toyotas of all types added 2.7 GWh of battery power to the world’s roads over the first two months. That calculates to a 24% improvement year-over-year.  

By comparison BYD vehicle owners steered 16.4 GWh onto the world’s roads during the opening months of 2025 and those driving new Teslas 14.4 GWh.  

Taking into consideration PHEVs and BEVs only Toyota is ranked at a lowly number 22 globally among automakers based on January-February battery capacity deployment of 1.6 GWh.   

The 87-year-old automaker lags behind Chinese start-ups Xpeng (first vehicle produced November 2018), Nio (June 2018), Zeekr (October 2021), Leapmotor (June 2019), and Luxeed, a partnership of tech giant Huawei and Chery, that is 18 months old.    

When looking at BEVs in isolation Toyota drops another 2 slots, bested by the likes of Vietnamese newcomer VinFast and 13 spots below Xiaomi, a mobile phone maker, which shipped its first ever car in the second quarter of 2024. 

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Hydride and hybrid   

As expected, when it comes to battery raw materials deployment, Toyota is not exactly putting pedal to the metal either. With the exception of nickel.   

Thanks to its heavy reliance on HEVs, the vast majority of which are fitted with nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) batteries and the remaining with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) li-on packs, Toyota holds its own.  

The company is number three worldwide in nickel deployment after Volkswagen and Tesla with a total of 5.4 kilotonnes installed in January and February 2025 combined.  

That figure is 11% of the global total battery nickel deployed for the period across EV types. When it comes to nickel deployed in HEV batteries, Toyota’s market share is a definitive 95%.  

Contact the Adamas team to learn more or check out the intelligence services below.