---
title: "2020 Toyota C-HR Electric: Battery-Powered City Commuter Takes Aim at US, Chinese Markets"
description: "The electric crossover will first debut in China next year."
date: "2019-04-17"
modified: "2019-04-18"
authors:
  - name: "James Gilboy"
    job_title: "Contributing Writer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/james-gilboy"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/27495/2020-toyota-c-hr-electric-battery-powered-city-commuter-takes-aim-at-us-chinese-markets"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "Electric Vehicles"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Toyota News"
tags:
  - "C-HR"
  - "China"
  - "compact"
  - "crossovers"
  - "Electric Vehicle"
  - "Shanghai Auto Show"
  - "suv/crossover"
  - "Toyota"
---

# 2020 Toyota C-HR Electric: Battery-Powered City Commuter Takes Aim at US, Chinese Markets

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2019/04/20190416_01_02.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

**Year, Make, Model**: 2020 Toyota C-HR Electric

**Topline**: Toyota announced Tuesday at the kickoff of [Auto Shanghai](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/27444/vw-i-d-roomzz-electric-suv-makes-worldwide-debut-at-2019-shanghai-auto-show>) that an electric version of its C-HR crossover coupe will launch in China in 2020.

**What's New**: Nothing about its capabilities. Toyota shared no specifications for the electric C-HR or its China-only twin, the IZOA, built with another of Toyota's local partners. Both share a silhouette and, presumably, will have identical drivetrains, which should consist of an electric motor on the front axle, powered by floor-mounted batteries, as suggested by the models' first commercial. Based on the fact that the C-HR (and IZOA) are city vehicles, we speculate that these models will not exceed 200 miles of potential range.

https://youtube.com/embed/fcIHTxzNTtk

We speculate that despite the above commercial showing the C-HR EV to be front-wheel-drive, this could end up being Toyota's chance to offer an all-wheel-drive version of the model in markets such as the United States, using its new electric rear axle as seen on the [Prius AWD-E](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/27235/toyota-will-limit-electric-awd-system-to-existing-hybrids-only-for-now>). Toyota has explained that [the C-HR sold in the U.S. isn't compatible with AWD](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/27201/toyota-considering-c-hr-with-awd-but-cant-make-it-work-as-is>), and though the C-HR is sold abroad with AWD, that version is too slow to be attractive to American buyers.

![2020 Toyota C-HR Electric.](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1555436357844-20190416_01_03.jpg>)
*2020 Toyota C-HR Electric.*

*, *Toyota**

**What you Need to Know**: Toyota states that the C-HR EV's Chinese market launch in 2020 will mark the start of a global rollout of 10 electric vehicles worldwide in the early 2020s, and confirmed to *The Drive* that the near-identical C-HR and IZOA EVs count as just one of said 10. There is also no word as of yet whether the C-HR EV will be sold abroad, and Toyota declined to discuss its plans for selling the C-HR EV outside China

By 2030, Toyota hopes to be selling 5.5 million electrified (hybrid, battery, or hydrogen fuel-cell) vehicles each year across the globe. It says the 13 million electrified vehicles that it has sold since the Prius' introduction in 1997 have reduced CO2 emissions by a cumulative 103 million tons.

## Author
James is a former staff writer for The Drive. He has changed the conversation around electrification, debunked misinformation online, and become a prominent hunter of what he calls "automotive cryptids."

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/jamesgilboy>)