TOKYO — Toyota is placing a small electrical car on the roads of Japan with an modern design for dealing with the nation’s slim, winding streets and concrete commuting wants.
The C+Pod, launched Dec. 25, measures simply 8 toes, 2 inches lengthy and 4 toes, 3 inches broad, delivering an ultratight turning radius of 12 toes, 10 inches.
The diminutive dimensions allow superb navigation of the sharp corners and slim streets that vein the house nation’s street community. The C+Pod is even narrower and shorter than the favored super-compact minicars that make up 37 p.c of the native market.
The C+Pod — pronounced C Pod, with out the plus — additionally represents a comeback for Toyota. It’s the automaker’s first electrical automobile for Japan because it discontinued the short-lived eQ, a battery-driven model of the Scion iQ three-seat minicar.
The brand new entry is a part of Toyota’s gambit to get again into the EV recreation with a lineup of 10 EVs worldwide within the early 2020s. At the moment, Toyota’s worldwide electrical choices are restricted to the C+Pod in Japan, the Toyota C-HR and Izoa crossovers in China and the Lexus UX compact crossover in China, Japan, Europe, Thailand and Indonesia.
Among the many engineering tips on the C+Pod is using plastic physique panels to scale back weight and prolong the automobile’s vary. The pint-size pod is available in at simply 1,521 kilos.
It additionally helps customary charging direct from family retailers, taking 5 hours to totally recharge at 200 volts, or 16 hours at 100 volts. That permits in a single day charging for each day enterprise use or one cost per week for extra restricted use.
Toyota mentioned the automobile’s development higher absorbs vitality in entrance, aspect and rear impacts and likewise higher protects pedestrians. Automobile accidents involving pedestrians are a major concern in densely populated Japan. Its pre-collision security system can detect different autos, pedestrians and bicycles.
The inside will get a stripped-down, minimalistic Fisher-Value really feel, with massive knobs and buttons.
However the C+Pod is restricted in its talents. It gives solely as much as 93 miles of vary on a full cost of its lithium ion battery, as assessed beneath the Worldwide Harmonized Mild Autos Take a look at Process.
Toyota maintains that’s sufficient for each day use. Toyota will first supply the C+Pod to company customers, native governments and different fleet clients. It is going to be prolonged to people by 2022.
The automobile is a gap play in Toyota’s effort to remodel itself from an old-school automaker right into a purveyor of next-generation private mobility. Additionally in its plans: The i-Street compact three-wheeled electrical scooter and a lineup of what are referred to as walking-area battery-electric autos. These are low-speed assist autos and scooters that transfer folks by pedestrian zones.
The C+Pod is made in restricted quantity on a devoted line on the firm’s Motomachi meeting plant in Toyota Metropolis. The manufacturing unit has morphed a bit right into a workshop for specialty automobiles, at the moment constructing such nameplates because the Crown sedan, Mirai gasoline cell car and GR Yaris sizzling hatch.
The C+Pod begins at ¥1.65 million ($15,840) in Japan, together with consumption tax.