BMW-Toyota making big steps in EV technology

The partnership between BMW and Toyota has already heralded “big steps” in battery technology, according to BMW’s head of marketing, Ian Robertson.

He revealed that the two firms were now evaluating how to best harness the gains, but indicated that they could lead to a dramatic shift with electric car technology.

“We’ve been genuinely impressed by the speed and quality of the learnings,” said Robertson. “The teams are working very well together. We are making some big steps, especially in battery performance and efficiency. We are now looking at how we can use the learnings together, because there’s no question they will make electric cars far more attractive.” 

Robertson added that the joint-venture team had also made progress with hydrogen fuel cell development, but cautioned that the technology remained some way off because of infrastructure problems.

He also said that the proposed joint-venture sports car between the two firms, which would sit under the Toyota GT86, was “being worked on, but still too far off to be talked about”.

The results of the collaboration between the two companies are already being seen. The new Toyota Verso, which goes into production in January next year in Turkey, will be powered by a BMW turbodiesel engine that develops 110bhp.