There’s a formula to Toyota’s legendary reliability. The world’s largest automaker doesn’t adopt new technologies just to make its cars slick, powerful, or even more efficient. It has a history of waiting until a new automotive technology has proven reliable enough to improve its most important metric: ownership cost per mile. So if Toyota’s finally going all-in on electric, that means electric may soon be the most affordable vehicle option.
While other automakers churned out electric prototypes at a dizzying pace, Toyota has been stubborn about converting any of its big nameplates to EVs. Instead, Toyota spent decades perfecting its hybrids until it proved hybrids are more reliable than traditional cars.
Meanwhile, increasingly exotic electric cars have become a luxury item. From the record-setting quad-motor Rimac supercar to the record-setting quad-motor Rivian supertruck, Lucid is an American startup that just won Germany’s performance car of the year—likely because its extremely aerodynamic Air Grand Touring set the EV production car range record with a 749-mile drive. It’s a $110,000 luxury car, but its advanced technology may soon trickle down to affordable EVs. Perhaps even the new Corolla.
I recently spoke with a panel of engineers at Lucid’s Detroit-area office. They told me they didn’t set out to break the overall range record—they designed their Air with a different metric in mind. That company’s most important metric is the ratio of minutes on a DC fast charger to miles on the road. Their logic? If an electric sedan can bomb along for 180 miles after every 15-minute charging session, you’ll almost always need a rest stop before your battery runs down. I expect Toyota’s thinking something very similar.
Toyota rolled out an all-new Corolla concept car during the 2025 Japanese Mobility Show. It looks an awful lot like a smaller Lucid Air. This doesn’t mean Toyota is ripping off Lucid. Creating an efficient EV requires playing nice with the laws of aerodynamics—separate engineering teams will converge on similar liftback sedan shapes. To maximize an EV’s interior space and improve its ride, engineers often push its four wheels out to the furthest corners of the car. But the new Corolla may have one major advantage: it’s tiny.
Lucid’s strategy has been to build a full-size sedan with a large battery pack and 900-volt architecture for fast charging. Tesla has a similar strategy. But Toyota may arrive at a compact with a smaller battery.
The tiny battery size means the initial cost of the car will be much lower. The weight will also drop exponentially, making it more efficient. Charging will be cheaper. Finally, it will be able to charge up much faster. The result may be a four-person compact car that most drivers can operate just like they currently drive a traditional ICE vehicle—but at a fraction of the cost. And for many more total miles.
A comparable vehicle would be the Hyundai Ioniq 6. Multiple drivers report it gets 3.2 miles/kWh—even while driving aggressively. This means you need about 57 kWh to add another 180 miles of range. And at the latest DC fast chargers, this is completely possible for the 800-volt Hyundai.
If Toyota can make its next Corolla a mini-Lucid, it has a good shot at selling another 50 million units of the world’s favorite car.
Henry Cesari is a MotorBiscuit Staff Writer who brings his deep interest in vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles to the site. Henry covers Ford models daily, including the F-150. Having restored his first classic car at just 16 years old, Henry has wrenched on everything from overland campers to Japanese motorcycles and even pre-war Bugattis. He’s an avid attendee at local car shows and genuinely enjoys connecting with fellow auto enthusiasts. Henry earned a Bachelor’s in Anthropology and English from the University of Vermont.

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