Toyota plans to trial an electric iQ version next year

An iQ EV is scheduled to go on sale in the USA in 2012, but already Toyota is looking at its potential in other markets, including Europe, Japan and China.

Toyota plans to launch 11 hybrid vehicles within two years, including both all-new and re-designed models.

The Prius Plug-in Hybrid, currently undergoing a demonstration programme in London and other worldwide locations, will go on sale in Europe, Japan and the USA from early 2012.

Toyota is expecting to sell around 50,000 cars a year, the majority in its home market.

For electric vehicles (EVs), key to success is the research and development of next-generation batteries, beyond the lithium-ion type featured in Prius Plug-in.

This will, hopes Toyota, bring about the big advances in performance that will be needed for electric-powered eco-cars to succeed in the mass market.

In January this year it set up a new division of around 100 researchers to study next-generation battery production.

The options being investigated include solid-state batteries and metal-air batteries which have the potential to provide a much higher energy density than the lithium-ion type.

Finally, Toyota is backing fuel cell hybrid technology and expects to introduce a saloon fuel cell hybrid vehicle (FCHV) in around 2015 in Europe, Japan and North America.