Toyota’s many Japan Mobility Show concepts are led by an all-electric Land Cruiser

Yep, this is it. The concept car that previews an all-electric Land Cruiser. Toyota describes this as an “elegant, stylish design” and it’s interesting that it hasn’t just shoved some batteries into the recently refreshed (and excellent looking) internal combustion/hybrid Land Cruiser.

That car uses a body-on-frame construction though, whereas this Se concept gets a monocoque and more talk of “driving in urban areas”. In fact, Toyota reckons this three-row SUV would “broaden the Land Cruiser brand’s appeal”. Might this be an admission that we’ll see even more different Land Cruisers in the future, with this one not really designed for the rough stuff?

Not content with fully electrifying the Land Cruiser, it looks like Toyota is having a go at the Tacoma too. The EPU is apparently a mid-size pickup concept, with another monocoque body that mounts its batteries under the floor.

We’re told the EPU is just over five metres long, and the double cab design includes a sparse cabin with a large screen and a yoke-style steering wheel. Presumably that means it’s using the steer-by-wire system that we’ve already tested on the Lexus RZ. Interesting…

Toyota says that the Kayoibako concept “looks to a mobility future where people will have the freedom to live the life they want”. Top Gear says it looks like a really cool little customisable van.

The Kayoibako’s hardware and software can both be adapted to change its use, so as a commercial vehicle it could be a last-mile delivery van, a mobile shop or a shuttle bus. As a private car, the pictures tell us this thing could be a super cool city car or a proper little adventure van. We like.

It’s not just cars that Toyota is bringing to the Japan Mobility Show this week, though. The JUU is an electric wheelchair that uses motors from Toyota’s EVs. It can also climb steps that are up to 16cm tall and could autonomously load itself into a car once the user has boarded the vehicle. Neat.

Someone at Toyota is clearly a big fan of space travel. Not only is it working on a fuel cell-powered lunar rover for the Japanese space agency, but it also recently revealed the FJ40-inspired Baby Lunar Cruiser concept. And now there’s this – the Space Mobility Prototype. This thing is a testbed for electric drive system tech that’ll actually be used on the moon, and it’s capable of navigating space boulders that are up to 50cm tall. Very cool indeed. 

Rather than a full car, this is just a cockpit concept, but we’re told NEO Steer is based on motorcycle handlebars and so integrates the accelerator and brake pedals into the square steering wheel. The system would allow hand-operated driving for those with lower limb impairments, with Toyota saying the uncluttered, pedal-free floor space would aid entry and exit.