In June, Toyota’s leadership took to the stage at the carmaker’s research facility near Mount Fuji and spelt out a detailed battery strategy — one that could help it achieve a goal of selling 3.5mn electric vehicles by 2030. The preview even included plans to commercialise solid-state battery technology in an EV as soon as 2027.

But these bold ambitions — from a company that sold just 38,000 electric vehicles in the last financial year — only underscore the challenges that Toyota, and corporate Japan, face in ramping up their EV targets as the world seeks a more sustainable way to produce car batteries.

That is because Japan’s renewed push into EVs coincides with intensified efforts on the part of the US and its allies to reduce their reliance on China for critical supplies — including battery materials.