Toyota released a small electric model named C+pod in Japanese market

Although the head of Toyota, Akio, bombards electric vehicles in public from time to time, after all, he still can’t get hold of trends and policies.

In December 2020, Toyota launched a small electric model named C+pod in the Japanese market. The car is positioned as a pure electric mini car that is the same level as Wuling Hongguang NINI EV but only offers 2 seats, and the price range is 104-10.8 million yuan.

Recently, Aisin Seiki announced that the newly improved ultra-compact electric drive unit has been installed in Toyota’s new mini-electric car C+pod.

As per the report, the structure of the electric drive unit used for the C+pod this time is evolved from the 2016 Toyota Prius E-Four 4 electric four-wheel-drive system, and has an ultra-compact size.

According to the official, the Prius E-Four 4 electric four-wheel-drive system uses an induction motor without magnetic resistance due to the four-drive force distribution ratio. And this time C+pod uses a changeless magnet synchronous motor as the main drive.

Additionally, by changing the layout of the gear train from 2-axis to 3-axis, the axial direction (width) is minimized, making it possible to install it on a narrower C+pod.

It is reported that the permanent magnet synchronous motor has a peak torque of 56 N·m and a maximum speed of 60 km/h. The matching battery is 9.06kWh, which can achieve a pure electric endurance of 150km (WLTC standard).

For charging, the new car supports 200V/16A household charging, which can be fully charged in 5 hours.

According to the project, Toyota C+pod will be sold to the Japanese government, enterprises, and other institutions in two lines in 2021, and will be sold to private individuals in 2020. However, referring to the price of 100,000 yuan, Wuling Hongguang NINI EV is more fragrant.

(Source)