Detroit Auto Show: Toyota Cautious on Battery Cars

(MoneyWatch)  Bill Reinert, Toyota's grizzled national alternative-fuel vehicles manager, isn't afraid to describe himself both as "an old hippie" and as an ardent environmentalist. And yet he's inherently cautious when asked at the North American International Auto Show about the company's volume plans for a production battery car similar to the FT-EV, a very green, small and very stylish battery concept car Toyota debuted in Detroit.

Toyota has said it will bring an all-electric city car that to the U.S. market by 2012. The four-seat FT-EV prototype is based on the gas-powered iQ, a minuscule commuter car that, at least until the Smart car started finding stateside buyers, Toyota was not planning to sell in the U.S. Now that's a possibility, too.

Toyota's city car will have a range of only 50 miles, but Reinert said that should be enough for urban commuters. He pointed out that adding range means bigger batteries, which add weight and cost. "We're looking for the sweet spot in terms of battery pack kilowatt hours," he said.

Unlike other carmakers, Toyota has a direct pipeline to lithium-ion battery supplies through a joint venture with Panasonic (one factory is built and a second is on the way). "That relationship is critical for us, because we gain so much knowledge of the electrification process," Reinert said. "It allows us to reduce the cost and size of our battery packs and inverters."

Still, asked how many battery EVs it might produce in 2012, Reinert's first response was very cautious. "I'd say 2,000 to 3,000 worldwide," he said. "I'm conservative about the numbers because the charging infrastructure has to be ready and the customers have to be ready." He later revised the number to "under 10,000."

Toyota also debuted the third-generation, 50-mpg Prius in Detroit, and the company thinks it can sell 180,000 in its first year in the U.S. The automaker is targeting sales of 400,000 worldwide in 2010. Its longer-term global goal is sales of a million hybrids a year.