Toyota vows to make owning an EV even more affordable, but with only one model available in the US, it’s not giving buyers many options. After another delay to its upcoming electric SUV, here’s when you can expect to see more Toyota EV models roll out.
Toyota aims to make EV ownership more affordable
On Thursday, Toyota Motor North America revealed new details on its plans to “develop a seamless home charging experience as the company prepares to ramp up for its next-generation electrified vehicles.”
Toyota’s growth fund, Woven Capital, led a $28 million funding raise for WeaveGrid, a software company that specializes in enabling rapid EV adoption on the electric grid.
According to Christopher Yang, Toyota’s vice president of EV Charging Solutions, the investment “has the potential to provide customers and power utilities with mutual benefits that align with our mission to contribute to the goal of a carbon-neutral society.”
Together with WeaveGrid, Toyota is partnering with utility companies to make EV ownership more affordable with programs designed to lower energy costs.
“As Toyota aims to expand the number of BEV and PHEV vehicles we offer, our goal remains to ensure the ownership experience is as seamless and customer-friendly” as it has in the US over the past 67 years, Yang said.
2024 Toyota bZ4X Limited AWD (Source: Toyota)
When are the new EVs arriving?
The Japanese automaker is known for its hybrid models, like the Prius. However, with only one EV available in the US, the bZ4X SUV, when will Toyota’s next electric model arrive?
In October, a Nikkei report claimed Toyota was delaying production of its three-row electric SUV. Although Toyota said it would begin building the new EV at its Georgetown, Kentucky plant in 2025, production is now scheduled to start in the first half of 2026.
Toyota larger bZ electric SUV concept (Source: Toyota)
The company also no longer plans to build new Lexus electric SUVs in North America. New Lexus EV models will be shipped from Japan.
According to the report, Toyota is delaying new EV launches to give it more time to introduce new production methods, like giga-casting, to cut costs and speed up output.
2025 Toyota bZ4X Limited AWD Supersonic Red (Source: Toyota)
Toyota informed suppliers earlier this year it expects to build around 1 million EVs by 2026. That’s down from its previous 1.5 million production goal.
Toyota is not the only one delaying new EV models in the US. Ford, GM, Volkswagen, and others are also holding back major EV initiatives, which opens the door for EV makers like Rivian, Lucid, and, of course, Tesla to gain market share.
Through the first nine months of 2024, Toyota has sold just over 13,500 bZ4X models in the US, more than double the roughly 6,500 sold through September 2023.
2025 Toyota bZ4X trim
Starting Price (excluding $1,395 DPH fee)
Price reduction (vs 2024MY)
Range (mi)
XLE FWD
$37,070
-$6,000
252
XLE AWD
$39,150
-$6,000
228
Limited FWD
$41,800
-$5,380
236
Limited AWD
$43,880
-$5,380
222
Nightshade
$40,420
N/A
222
2025 Toyota bZ4X prices and range by trim
Earlier this week, Toyota revealed the 2025 bZ4X will get a $6,000 price cut from the 2024MY. The 2025 Toyota bZ4X starts at just $39,150. With incentives, Toyota’s electric SUV could be even cheaper than a Corolla or RAV4 Hybrid.
More than $14 billion in US renewable and EV investments and 10,000 new jobs have been scrapped or put on hold since January, according to a new analysis from E2 and the Clean Economy Tracker. The reason: growing fears that the Republican-majority Congress will pull the plug on federal clean energy tax credits.
In April alone, companies backed out of $4.5 billion in battery, EV, and wind projects right before the House passed a sweeping tax and spending bill that would gut the federal tax incentives fueling the clean energy boom. E2 also found another $1.5 billion in previously unreported project cancellations from earlier in the year.
Now, with the Senate preparing to take up the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” E2 says over 10,000 clean energy jobs have already vanished.
“If the tax plan passed by the House last week becomes law, expect to see construction and investments stopping in states across the country as more projects and jobs are cancelled,” said Michael Timberlake, E2’s communications director. “Businesses are now counting on Congress to come to its senses and stop this costly attack on an industry that is essential to meeting America’s growing energy demand and that’s driving unprecedented economic growth in every part of the country.”
Advertisement – scroll for more content
Ironically, it’s Republican-led congressional districts – the biggest beneficiaries of the Biden administration’s clean energy tax credits passed in 2022 – that are feeling the most pain. So far, more than $12 billion in investments and over 13,000 jobs have been canceled in GOP districts.
Through April, 61% of all clean energy projects, 72% of jobs, and 82% of investments have been in Republican districts.
Despite the rising number of cancellations, some companies are still forging ahead. In April, businesses announced nearly $500 million in new clean energy investments across six states. That includes a $400 million expansion by Corning in Michigan to make solar wafers, which is expected to create at least 400 jobs, and a $9.3 million investment from a Canadian solar equipment company in North Carolina.
If completed, the seven projects announced last month could create nearly 3,000 permanent jobs.
To date, E2 has tracked 390 major clean energy projects across 42 states and Puerto Rico since the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August 2022. In total, companies plan to invest $132 billion and hire 123,000 permanent workers.
But the report warns that momentum could grind to a halt if the House tax plan becomes law. Since the clean energy tax credits were signed into law, 45 announced projects have been canceled, downsized, or closed entirely, wiping out nearly 20,000 jobs and $16.7 billion in investments.
What’s more, Trump’s Department of Energy announced today that it was killing more than $3.7 billion in funding for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and decarbonization initiatives. Eighteen out of 24 projects were awarded through DOE’s Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP), which was made law in the Inflation Reduction Act. It aimed to strengthen the economic competitiveness of US manufacturers in global markets demanding lower carbon emissions, while supporting US manufacturing jobs and communities.
Executive Director Jason Walsh of the BlueGreen Alliance said in a statement in response to today’s DOE announcement:
The awarded projects that DOE is seeking to kill are concentrated in rural areas and red states. American manufacturers are hungry to partner with the federal government to bolster US industry. The IDP saw $60 billion worth of applications during the program selection process, a ten-times oversubscription.
President Trump claims to be a champion of American manufacturing, but today’s announcement is further evidence that he and his Secretary of Energy are liars.
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
A Tesla prototype was spotted at the Fremont factory in California, sparking speculation that it’s the new “cheaper Tesla”, but it looks like a regular Model Y.
A drone operator flew over the Fremont factory this week and spotted a Tesla prototype with light camouflage on the front and back ends.
The vehicle is making a lot of people talk on social media and the media as many think it could be a new “affordable model” coming to Tesla.
Other than the camouflage, the vehicle looks just like a regular Model Y:
Advertisement – scroll for more content
It’s likely one of two things: a new “stripped-down Model Y” or a Model Y Performance.
Model Y Performance is the only version that Tesla hasn’t launched since the design changeover earlier this year.
The “stripped-down Model Y” is what will replace Tesla’s upcoming “affordable models.”
We have been reporting on this new vehicle program from Tesla for a while now.
It came to life just over a year ago as a pivot for Tesla after CEO Elon Musk canceled two cheaper vehicles that Tesla was working on, commonly referred as “the $25,000 Tesla”. Those vehicles were codenamed NV91 and NV92, and they were based on the new vehicle platform that Tesla is now reserving for the Cybercab.
Instead, Musk saw that Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y production lines were starting to be underutilized as Tesla faced demand issues. Therefore, Tesla canceled the vehicles program based on the new platform and decided to build new vehicles on Model 3/Y platform using the same production lines.
We previously reported that these electric vehicles will likely look very similar to Model 3 and Model Y.
In recent months, several other media reports reinforced that, and Tesla all but confirmed it during its latest earnings call.
Considering this looks like a regular Model Y, it could be the new cheaper and less feature rich Model Y:
Some people are claiming that this vehicle looks smaller than the Model Y, but it’s difficult to tell as the black camouflage on the ends can confuse the eye.
It looks like a very similar size when it passes near other Tesla vehicles:
What do you think it is? Let us know in the comment section below.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
San Francisco-based founder Ahmed Shubber wants to emulate Elon Musk’s success in the electric construction equipment world – and he hopes his new, 32-ton electric bulldozer is enough to make the world sit up and take notice.
Since launching his company, Lumina, in 2021, Shubber has raised more than $8 million and grown the company’s global (!?) headcount to 26 people. That fruit of that team’s labor is the machine seen here. Dubbed “Moonlander,” the first-of-its-kind prototype occupies the physical footprint of something like a Caterpillar D6, but packs the blade and performance of the larger, more powerful Cat D9.
“A D6 could not push that blade,” David Wright, Lumina’s head of UK operations, told the assembled media at the Moonlander’s launch last week. “We can have that blade full of material, full dozing seven to nine cubic meters of material, for eight to 10 hours.”
“Even if you spend all morning heavy dozing and you’re a bit worried about how much juice you’ve used — well, your operators are going to take a union-mandated lunch break, right?” asks Wright. “Plug it in, and in 30 minutes, you’ve put 50% of power back in again.”
Shubber says Lumina is working to raise from $20-40 million for its Series A round to develop the company’s next electric equipment asset: a 100-ton electric excavator called Blade Runner. And, in a truly Tesla-like fashion, Shubber says he’s on track to hit an ambitious $100 million revenue target sometime in the next 24 months.
We’ll see how that unfolds in 2 year’s time, I guess. In the meantime, check out this Lumina promo video for Moonlander, below, then let us know what you think of Shuber’s take on an electric job site in the comments.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. The best part? No one will call you until after you’ve elected to move forward. Get started, hassle-free, by clicking here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.