The Maritime Sikh Society says the body of a young employee who died at a Walmart in Halifax last weekend was found by her mother.
Toyota is spending $45 billion on electric cars to close gap on rivals
Toyota is pumping more than C$45 billion into electric vehicles as it tries to catch up with other global automakers in the race to cleaner cars.
The world's biggest carmaker announced Tuesday that it would invest 4 trillion yen (C$45.2 billion) in developing battery-powered electric vehicles between 2022 and 2030 in a bid to mount a more serious challenge to rivals such as Tesla, GM and Volkswagen.
A large chunk of that money will go toward the batteries themselves, with the Japanese company committing another half trillion yen (C$5.6 billion) to the technology on top of 1.5 trillion yen (C$16.9 billion) previously announced.
The automaker currently sells just a few thousand battery electric vehicles each year. But it now plans to roll out as many as 30 new models by 2030, with the aim of selling 3.5 million such vehicles per year by 2030, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said at a press briefing in Tokyo.
That would be over a third of the company's sales last fiscal year, which totaled roughly 9 million vehicles worldwide.
The Lexus luxury brand is a huge part of the new plan, with Toyota projecting 1 million global EV sales by 2030. Toyota wants all Lexus sales in Europe, North America and China to be battery-powered electric vehicles by the end of this decade, and globally by 2035.
CATCHING UP
While Toyota has been a pioneer in hybrid and even hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles, it has been much slower than some other major automakers to expand into the fully-electric vehicle market.
Electric vehicles, including hybrid and fuel cell cars, accounted for nearly 28 per cent of the company's sales in the six months ended September. But battery-powered electric cars were a tiny component of that, making up just 0.1 per cent of total sales.
In the early 2000s, one of Toyota's most recognizable hybrids, the Prius, was received with the sort of excitement and wait lists now seen for Tesla models. Other automakers were criticized for not making similar models at the time.
Almost 20 years after the sensation, however, it is Toyota that is playing catchup in fully-electric cars and SUVs.
Standing in front of more than a dozen electric vehicles on Tuesday, Toyoda called the new lineup "our showroom of the future" and said the manufacturer would also seek to make its factories carbon neutral by 2035.
That moves up a previous pledge from the company to become carbon neutral by 2050, which means its cars and production processes will not add carbon dioxide to the Earth's atmosphere. Other industry players, such as GM and Mercedes, have made similar pledges.
"The future that we showed you today is by no means far away," Toyoda told reporters, adding that most of the models shown Tuesday would be released over the next few years.
But competition is intensifying. Just last week, Volkswagen announced that it would raise its budget for electric vehicles, to C$128 billion. The German behemoth, which has long been virtually neck and neck with Toyota in global sales, also said it hoped that 25 per cent of its vehicle sales worldwide would be electric by the end of 2026.
RED-HOT DEMAND
EV batteries are also becoming a hot topic among investors elsewhere in Asia.
This month, LG Energy Solution, a battery supplier for the likes of Hyundai and Siemens, announced it would go public in South Korea, with the goal of raising up to 12.75 trillion won (C$13.8 billion).
The market debut, which is expected to take place in January, would be the country's biggest initial public offering on record, according to Dealogic.
In a statement, LG Energy Solution CEO Young Soo Kwon said that the company's IPO was about "preemptively responding to the demand for the lithium-ion battery industry, expected to see rapid growth."
Peter Valdes-Dapena contributed to this report.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Four people are dead and another is in hospital after a Tesla driving through downtown Toronto at a high rate of speed crashed into a guardrail and struck a concrete pillar on Lake Shore Boulevard.
Prosecutor recommends parole for Menendez brothers in 1989 murder of parents
A Los Angeles prosecutor said on Thursday he would ask a judge to release Erik and Lyle Menendez on parole after nearly 35 years in prison for the shotgun murder of their parents, as new evidence emerged indicating they were sexually abused by their father for years.
Former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model says Trump groped her to show off for Jeffrey Epstein
A former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model鈥痠s alleging鈥痶hat former President Donald Trump groped her in the 1990s, in what she believes was an attempt to show off for Jeffrey鈥疎pstein.
'Never said I was going to close the door on politics forever': Christy Clark on interest in federal leadership run
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces growing pressure from within his own caucus to step aside, former B.C. premier Christy Clark says she is open to returning to politics.
Montreal police say four teenagers suffered stab wounds after an altercation near John F. Kennedy High School in the city's Villeray鈥擲aint-Michel鈥擯arc-Extension borough on Thursday.
More straight couples are calling each other partner. Here's why
Within a year of dating, 31-year-old Siara Rouzer crossed a major relationship milestone. The guy she was seeing was no longer a boyfriend but her partner.
Trudeau announces massive drop in immigration targets as Liberals make major pivot
The federal government is slashing immigration targets to levels that will flatten population growth as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admits the government did not get the balance right after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ottawa Police Service has identified the woman who was stabbed to death at Paul Landry Park on Uplands Drive Thursday morning.
Local Spotlight
A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.
Hundreds of people ran to the music of German composer and pianist Beethoven Wednesday night in a unique race in Halifax.
He is a familiar face to residents of a neighbourhood just west of Roncesvalles Avenue.
A meteor lit up our region's sky last night 鈥 with a large fireball shooting across the horizon over Lake Erie at around 7:00 p.m.
Residents of Ottawa's Rideauview neighbourhood say an aggressive wild turkey has become a problem.
A man who lost his life while trying to rescue people from floodwaters, and a 13-year-old boy who saved his family from a dog attack, are among the Nova Scotians who received a medal for bravery Tuesday.
A newly minted Winnipegger is hoping a world record attempt will help bring awareness for the need for more pump track facilities in the city.
A Springfield, Ont. man is being hailed a 'hero' after running into his burning home to save his two infant children.
Hortense Anglin was the oldest graduate to make her way across the platform at York University's Fall Convocation ceremony this week. At the age of 87, she graduated with an Honours degree in Religious Studies.