Toyota’s EV4 to be Manufactured in Ontario

Announced yesterday, Toyota will be manufacturing gas and electric versions of its EV4 at the Woodstock, Ontario, Canada Toyota manufacturing plant, beginning 2012.  The real news is that Tesla Motors, the manufacturer of the all-electric sports car (The Roadster), will be manufacturing the battery systems, motors, and transmissions for the EV4 in California, and shipping them to the Canadian plant.

It was July of last year (2010) that Tesla Motors, Inc. and Toyota Motor Corporation announced their agreement to develop the electric version of Toyota’s EV4.^[1]  At that time, there was much speculation that the new model would be built at the Fremont, California production plant which Toyota had sold to Tesla.

This is a real boon for Ontario, a Canadian province which has led the way in renewable energies and GREEN jobs of all kinds.  This announcement reflects the province’s positive growth from its governmental leadership.  Ontario is a leader in the world with regard to Feed-In Tariffs, creating more than 100,000 renewable energy jobs and attracting a number of large manufacturers in the solar and wind industries, all due to Ontario’s Feed-In Tariff legislation.

For those Tesla fans in the US, there is good news and not-so-good news.  On the downside, Tesla has announced that it is discontinuing production of its original Roadster model.  Given that the chassis, body and interior of the Roadster was manufactured by Lotus Motors, and that company is re-tooling, Tesla Motors needed to reconsider its options.  A few vehicles are still left, but interested buyers need to move quickly.  The Tesla Roadster, costs around $109,000. It is a two-seater that can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in around 3.7 seconds and can travel more than 200 miles on a single charge. Top-end speed is around 125 miles per hour.  Not too shabby for an electric car!  On the good news side, besides the addition of Tesla’s technologies into the EV4 Toyota, Tesla will be putting their new Model S sedan^[2] into production in that Fremont, California plant.  The Model S is quite a bit more economical.  It is a four-door sedan, priced in the $59K (USD, before government incentives, with a range before recharge approaching 300 miles.  Also, the new Model X is scheduled for a preview in December of this year.

Known as Project GREEN Light, the budget for the project is stated as $545 million dollars (Canadian), with the government of Canada and the Province of Ontario each kicking in $70.8 million (Canadian).^[3]  As reported by Bloomberg News^[4], Tesla Motors and Toyota have reached a five-year agreement by which Toyota will purchase $100 million of Tesla components for the EV4 project.

This new initiative helps Ontario maintain its title as producing more vehicles than any other state or province in North America.

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