Toyota to launch pure electric car based on FT-EV concept in US by 2012

Toyota said it would launch an all-electric car for city commuting by 2012 in the United States as part of its plan to speed up the introduction of green cars as its global sales falter. The FT-EV concept made its debut at the North American International Auto Show. The FT-EV concept shares a platform with the tiny iQ urban commuter car, which runs on a gasoline engine and emits just 99 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. Toyota said the concept car is targeted at the urban dweller driving up to 50 miles between home and work, for instance.

Toyota would join rivals General Motors and Nissan in the race to grab the lead in the zero-emission car segment. But Toyota said it still considered gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles its long-term core powertrain technology. With an aim of selling 1 million hybrids annually soon after 2010, Toyota will launch as many as 10 new hybrid models by then in various markets. The 2010 Toyota Prius and the Lexus HS250h, to debut in Detroit, are part of that effort, it said. General Motors, which Toyota passed in recent years to become the top global automaker by sales, has said it will launch its Chevrolet Volt electric car in the United States in late 2010.

- Compared to the Tesla Roadster, this one obviously belongs in a slightly different market segment. Whereas Tesla has chosen to go straight to the super high end of things, Toyota's entry looks to be aiming for the "slightly higher than electric golf cart" category. That's not such a bad thing, actually. There's probably a market for small, affordable electric vehicles for zipping about the city or for relatively short commutes. How big that market is going to be in 2012 will depend on the movement of crude oil prices, and the state of the economy by then.

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