Toyota Goes Electric—Quickly

Although Toyota has become more closely identified with hybrid vehicles than any other OEM—let’s face it: If someone were to be making a dictionary and they wanted to show a picture defining “hybrid vehicle,” they’d probably use a Prius—they’re also involved in other types of powertrains for cars, including electric vehicles.

There is the RAV4 EV, which is a last-generation RAV4 with battery technology from Tesla.

Then there’s this, the TMG EV P002.

It isn’t from Toyota Motor Manufacturing. It is from Toyota Motorsport GmbH, out of Germany.

Toyota is having the car sent from Cologne to Salisbury, North Carolina, to the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) facility. There the Radical-based chassis will get some aerodynamic upgrades and undergo track testing.

Then its real test will be on June 30, when it will participate in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. Rod Millen will be piloting the vehicle.

The car set a record at last year’s climb for electric vehicles, finishing in 10 minutes, 15.380 seconds.

They hope to best that.

The TMG EV P002 produces 400 kW (536 hp) and 1,200 Nm (885 lb-ft). It has a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph). It has a 42 kWh lithium-ceramic battery. Given that there aren’t a whole lot of infrastructure amenities out at Pikes Peak, they are using an off-board battery-to-battery charging system, including the Schneider Electric EVlink DC Charger. Essentially, the TMG DC Quick Charger has a 42-kW lithium ion battery. It is charged from the grid. It is located in the back of a Toyota pickup truck. The truck travels to where the TMG EV P002 is staged, and then the charger is connected to the car’s battery to get it juiced for the race.