Teeny-weeny Toyota electric city car will hit Japanese streets next year
This little guy only measures 98 inches long and 51 inches wide.
It's... kind of cool looking.
Toyota is getting serious about electric cars and plans to have a portfolio of electric-driven models come 2025. Serving as the dawn of this new era is this little dude, which the Japanese automaker calls the Toyota Ultra-Compact Battery-Electric Vehicle.
This is not a concept, nor a drill. This electric city car is headed to production, the automaker said in the model's online debut on Thursday. Like its size, the Ultra-Compact BEV is meant for short-distance travel. Drivers won't be getting too far on a full charge, since there's enough range to take drivers 62 miles, Toyota estimates. Then again, the automaker underscored this wasn't designed to be a long-distance hauler.
Instead, Toyota wants to bring mobility to those that make many short-distance trips, and Ultra-Compact BEV is best suited for elderly and new drivers who don't go far. They certainly won't go fast, either. The electric city car has a top speed of just 37 mph. If it isn't clear, this little guy isn't coming to America, where that top speed barely sneaks above some residential and business speed limits.
Very clearly a Japanese design.
We don't have any photos of the interior so far, but the company said there's space for a driver and a single passenger, but we see what appears to be a central driving position and a squared-off dashboard housing inside the city car. Tell your friends it's like a McLaren F1 then.
Additional specifics weren't included, but we'll surely get all the details on the electric city car when it makes its formal debut at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show next week. There, it will be alongside two other previously shown concept cars: the Ultra-Compact BEV concept for business and the i-Road. The latter will be available for test rides.
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