Toyota plans 10 purely electric vehicles by 2020s

A Toyota Motor Corp.'s model is on display at the automaker's head office in Tokyo on May 8, 2013. (Itsuo Inouye/AP)

TOKYO - Toyota plans to offer more than 10 purely electric vehicle models in its lineup by the early 2020s, marking the Japanese automaker's commitment to that growing technology sector.

Toyota Motor Corp. now offers no purely electric vehicles, although it leads in hybrid models, which switch between an electric motor and a gas engine.

Executive Vice-President Shigeki Terashi said Monday that Toyota's EVs will be first offered in China, a nation that's encouraging electric vehicles with subsidies and other policies, and is expected to drive massive growth in that technology.

Terashi says Toyota's EVs will also later be offered in Japan, India, the U.S. and Europe.

The company says that by about 2025, every model it sells will have some kind of “electrified” version, such as hybrid, electric or fuel-cell.