Full charge ahead...
TOYOTA has announced it is investing more than €11.6bn in research and development of batteries, electric motors and power control units for electrified vehicles between now and 2030.
Toyota says its ongoing goal is to accelerate the elimination of CO2 emissions and ensure true carbon neutrality through the entire life cycle of the vehicles it produces by 2050.
This investment is in line with Toyota’s Environmental Challenge
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The company’s newly developed batteries will have a significantly higher capacity retention rate after 10 years compared to what has gone before, and for the forthcoming Toyota bZ4X BEV, Toyota has set a target of 90 per cent endurance after 10 years of use.
AFTER a long 18 months it was a blessed relief to pack the passport (after a panicky ten minutes) and head to the airport, thrilled to be setting foot in another country for the first time in yonks.
The country was Spain, the city
Barcelona and the car is this: The
CUPRA Born, the brand’s first 100 per cent electric model.
You’ll have noticed its similarities to the VW ID.3 by now but CUPRA have put enough of their own character into the car to help it stand out.
This is an electric hatchback done properly, with a decent range of about
500km, a goodsized 77Kwh battery and the confidence to say: yes electric cars are wickedly fast — so let’s admit it!
Most manufacturers won’t encourage a rapid turn of pace in an electric car as it does hammer the battery so, but even your average Nissan Leaf can demolish most conventionally-powered cars from a standing start.
So imagine what this can do — particularly with the e-Boost performance pack that increases power to as it hangs on the cliff side. 231PS (170kW). And that’s another thing: elec
231PS! That’s Golf GTi territric cars do not as a rule lik e tory right there. climbing anything at all — it all
We had quite the day with the comes back to demands it places Born in the heart of Barcelona, on the battery of course, but the navigating densely-packed sideCUPRA took to itast hough, er, streets, the traffic- choked born to it. highways that cut through the heart of this most cosmopolitan of cities and finally up and away from the bustle to the cool, stunning mountain of
Montserrat, where the roads become more beautiful and challenging the further you climb towards the incredible Santa Maria monastery
Part of that is due to the uprated chassis which combines a MacPherson strut suspension at the front with an advanced five multi-link design at the rear.
Gravity
What’s more, the battery sits low between the front and rear axles, delivering a low-slung centre of gravity and almost perfect 50: 50 weight distribution. Which all adds up to a furiously agile and responsive companion for the twisty delights