Toyota to speed up its rollout of electrified vehicles

The company is also working to develop solid-state batteries.

Toyota, one of the pioneers of hybrid vehicle technology, has announced that it will bring forward its pure electric vehicle plans by five years.

In a briefing on the company's EV plans, Shigeki Terashi, Toyota's r&d chief, revealed that Toyota intends to have 5.5 million electrified vehicles -- which includes traditional hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery-powered vehicles -- on the road by 2025. Previously, Toyota stated it was aiming to hit that sales target in 2030.

Additionally, Terashi revealed that Toyota could have a solid-state battery ready to unveil to the public by next year's Olympic games in Tokyo. Solid-state batteries -- which are lighter and more power dense than today's lithium-ion tech -- are viewed as the next major innovation for electric vehicles.

"If possible, by the time we have the Olympic games next year, we would like to make sure that a solid-state battery can be unveiled to the public," Terashi said, according to Automotive News.

Just this week Toyota agreed to enter into a partnership with Subaru to jointly developed a new electric vehicle platform that will underpin five mid- and large size vehicles, along with a smaller compact. During its presentation, Toyota released a teaser image of those vehicles.