Toyota commits $70 billion to bolster electrification, shares rally

Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda speaks at a briefing on the company's strategies on battery EVs in Tokyo, Japan December 14, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor Corp on Tuesday committed 8 trillion yen ($70 billion) to electrify its automobiles by 2030, half of it to develop a battery electric vehicle (BEV) line-up, as it looks to tap a growing market for zero-emission cars.

But the world's biggest carmaker, which is a relative latecomer to full electric cars, said it expected annual BEVs sales to reach only 3.5 million vehicles by the end of the decade, or around a third of its current vehicle sales.