Toyota is  planning to relaunch its e-car strategy

The Japanese have so far been very hesitant in pursuing an e-strategy and have mainly relied on hybrid cars. In addition, many customers and industry insiders consider the current technology of Toyota's electric cars to be not very competitive.

Toyota has therefore paused some work on existing e-car projects, as the news agency Reuters reported, citing four people familiar with the plans. A working group within the group has been tasked with outlining concrete proposals for improvements to the existing e-car platform or a completely new architecture by early next year, the four people said.

The revisions under consideration could initially slow Toyota's electric car rollout. Or looked at another way: Toyota may also be taking a run at rebooting its e-strategy. A reorientation with better e-cars would also open up new opportunities for the Japanese - the world's largest carmaker with a good ten million cars produced per year.

By refocusing its strategy, Toyota would also be responding to years of criticism from green investors and environmental groups who argue that Toyota, once a darling of environmentalists thanks to its early hybrid cars, has been far too hesitant in introducing electric cars.

As part of its realignment, Toyota is said to be looking at a successor to its e-TNGA electric vehicle platform, which was unveiled in 2019. A new platform would allow Toyota to cut costs, the four insiders said. Toyota's first e-car based on the e-TNGA platform - the bZ4X crossover - was launched earlier this year.

Toyota officials have not yet responded to a Reuters request for comment.