Toyota’s FT-Me Micro Solar EV Just Got a Big Boost Toward Reality

Toyota’s micro solar EV, the FT-Me, has moved a step closer to reality thanks to a grant from the UK government. The £15 million award, announced on October 15, will go through the Drive35 initiative and be overseen by a Toyota-led team to evaluate every component of this strange little vehicle. It was unveiled in Brussels in March, but now the hard work begins: transforming drawings into something you might see whizzing through Derby traffic.

Funding like this doesn’t come along every day for vehicles this small. The Advanced Propulsion Center, a non-profit dedicated to zero-emission tech, has handed over the cash to fund a feasibility study. Toyota Manufacturing UK is leading from its Burnaston plant in Derbyshire, where engineers will play with prototypes and chase down practical problems. There will be hands-on trials at the nearby University of Derby too, where they’ll measure everything from solar gains to how real people will use the thing in daily chaos.

Dariusz Mikolajczak, who runs Toyota’s UK operations, called it a game-changer in a statement. “This funding allows us to advance our understanding around the feasibility of creating a battery electric vehicle that addresses the growing demand for sustainable urban mobility,” he said. He’s right, Burnaston already builds Corollas and has been building hybrids since the ‘90s—Toyota has invested £2.8 billion in the site, employing 3,000 people and feeding a network of suppliers.


Consortium partners bring their own skills to the table. ELM Mobility, which launched a last-mile delivery van in 2024, will look at how to share parts and reduce costs—think shared platforms that cut development headaches. Savcor, the solar specialists, will look at the roof panel setup and aim to prove they can add 20% more range without a single plug-in. Their lightweight photovoltaic design will soak up urban sunlight for those extra miles, enough to cover most short journeys on a clear day.



All of this comes from the FT-Me’s original design, a two-seater that’s barely 2.5 meters long. Put it in Europe’s L6e rules for light quadricycles and you get a top speed of 45 km/h with 4 kW of power—enough to weave through bike lanes but not for highway driving. Range is about 100 km on a full charge, 120-130 km if the sun shines, all while using a third of the energy of bigger EVs. Park it sideways and it takes up a third of a standard parking space; park it straight and it’s half.



This project is built on the foundation of sustainability. They use recycled polymers and push recyclability to its limits, resulting in a 90% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the ordinary city automobile. Toyota took inspiration from the Olympics, namely the sleek, low-to-the-ground shuttles used to transport athletes around Tokyo and Paris, to build the FT-Me, which pays homage to accessibility and inclusivity in design. Fourteen-year-olds can try it out in designated areas, while those in the know can customize the interior to their liking. And then there’s the tech – you can unlock and call in services without fumbling around for your keys, it’s pretty genius. All of which is part of a broader push by Toyota to hit a couple of big targets – carbon neutral operations across Europe by 2035, and every single new ride zero emissions in the west by that time too.



In terms of production, if all goes well, Burnaston might serve as a second home – the objective is to produce limited runs for local demand before distributing them to UK streets. They aren’t announcing a precise timetable just yet; that depends on how things turn out in some tests, but all signals point to progress.
[Source]