Toyota has unveiled a 6 kW electric car home charger capable of adding 300 km of range overnight, while also inaugurating Woven City, its experimental smart city with autonomous vehicles and robots.
Toyota electric car charger delivers 300 km in 8 hours
A 6 kW home charger for electric cars and a city designed to test the coexistence of robots and autonomous vehicles. With these moves in Japan, Toyota is accelerating the spread of electric mobility while looking ahead to the future of smart cities. According to Nikkei Asia Review, the Japanese automaker has developed a branded Toyota electric car charger that will be sold together with its electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The wallbox, available this fall at Toyota dealerships, provides up to 300 km of range in about eight hours, aligning with standard overnight charging times. Dealerships will handle maintenance, while installation will be managed by construction companies.
Addressing Japan’s limited charging infrastructure
The charger is priced around $1,390 (200,000 yen). This move aims to overcome one of Toyota’s challenges: the slow pace of plug-in hybrid sales in Japan. In the first half of 2025, Toyota sold only about 10,000 plug-in hybrid units due to the scarcity of charging infrastructure.
Competitors take different approaches. Tesla offers its own branded chargers with vehicles, while Honda and Nissan rely on devices from third-party suppliers such as Panasonic.
Woven City: Toyota’s living laboratory for smart mobility
Toyota is also advancing its vision of the future city. The experimental project, officially launched this week in central Japan, is designed to integrate autonomous vehicles, delivery robots, and personal transport systems to serve residents. It represents a unique initiative for a car manufacturer.
The first phase of Woven City, built at the foot of Mount Fuji in Susono on 47,000 square meters of land, will initially host 300 people connected to Toyota. Over time, the site will expand to accommodate more than 2,000 residents.
Testing autonomous driving in a real-world setting
The city includes dedicated roads for autonomous vehicles and special traffic lights equipped with cameras and sensors, enabling tests of advanced driving technologies that cannot be trialed on public streets due to legal restrictions.
As a living laboratory, Woven City will test the coordination between vehicles and infrastructure to ensure safe, efficient autonomous driving. For instance, traffic lights will adjust their timing based on pedestrian and vehicle flow. In addition, an underground road network allows researchers to simulate autonomous driving in an environment free from sunlight interference.
