 |
| Japan's Subaru launches its first all-electric car |
Japan's Subaru has launched its first all-electric car, the Solterra, after a two-year joint development project with its largest shareholder, Toyota.
As countries around the world seek to tighten environmental regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the demand for electric vehicles continues to rise and the introduction of SUVs follows.
Last month, Toyota announced a version of its battery-powered electric car, the bZ4X.
Advances in internal combustion engine technology poses a challenge to smaller automakers such as Subaru, which cannot finance the development of expensive electric cars.
At the same time, this change provides large automakers such as Toyota the opportunity to attract smaller competitors.
"The electric vehicle market is not yet mature," Tomomi Nakamura, CEO of Subaru, said at the press conference. So we are responding to this by deepening our collaboration with Toyota.
Toyota currently manufactures Solterra in Japan. When Subaru has enough sales, it can move production to its primary market, the United States.
Toyota is a leader in hybrid electric vehicles, but it is a newcomer in the all-electric vehicle market and plans to have 15 fully electric vehicles by 2025.
In addition, $13.5 billion will be spent to increase production capacity for car batteries over the next decade.
Developed in collaboration with Toyota
Subaru Solterra is equipped with panoramic glass sunroofs or metal roofs with integrated solar panels. Solterra can also be used with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
There is also Subaru's first fully automated parking assistant. 20 inch wheels and adaptive LED headlights.
The car can also accept a fast DC charging speed of up to 150 kW, which is said to save 80% of electricity in about 30 minutes.
Heat pumps can reduce losses in cold weather and when using features such as heated seats and steering wheels.
The Solterra will be available globally in mid-2022, similar to the BZ4X. Subaru sales are less than a tenth of Toyota, the world's largest automaker by production.
Subaru said in a press release that the front-wheel drive Solterra has a range of 530 kilometers. The all-wheel drive version can cover 460 kilometers on a single charge.
Toyota owns one-fifth of Subaru's shares and 5% of Mazda shares. Mazda plans to launch 13 electric vehicles by 2025, including Toyota's hybrid and battery vehicles.