- A consortium led by Toyota, also bringing together ELM Mobility, Savcor, and the University of Derby, has secured funding through the UK’s £2.5 billion DRIVE35 programme to carry out a feasibility study of an electric quadricycle, mirroring existing production vehicles such as the Citroen Ami and Silence S04.
- The project draws inspiration from Toyota’s previous FT-Me two-seater concept, which was revealed earlier in 2025.
- It comes as cities and countries across Europe encourage switches to not only zero-emission propulsion, but smaller footprint micromobility vehicles which are more suited to narrow and crowded streets.
Toyota brings its FT-Me concept one step closer to potential production
The study looks to see how Toyota’s FT-Me concept, revealed earlier this year, could potentially be turned into a viable production EV. A trio of consortium partners are also contributing their own specific areas of expertise to the project. ELM Mobility is already producing its own fully-electric, compact last-mile delivery vehicle, and will work with Toyota to explore how components could be shared across the two platforms to maximise economies of scale and reduce development costs. Another consortium partner, Savcor, was the lead partner for creating the energy-producing solar roof on the original concept, and will look to produce an updated solar roof for the vehicle which extends the battery range by another 20%. The final partner, the University of Derby, will provide studies in micromobility user behaviour and the overall viability of solar energy.
If this study eventually leads to the FT-Me entering production, it would join a growing market of L6e and L7e EVs on sale across Europe – including the Citroen Ami, Silence S04, Microlino, and more. The UK-based funding also suggests that any future commercial production would also be based in the UK, in another win for the country’s ever-growing EV industry. Prototypes from this project will be built at Toyota’s Burnaston, Derbyshire factory, which currently builds models such as the Toyota Corolla.
Dariusz Mikolajczak, Managing Director of Toyota Motor UK, commented:
“We are delighted to receive support from the Advanced Propulsion Centre for this important study. The funding allows us to advance our understanding around the feasibility of creating a cutting-edge battery electric vehicle that addresses the growing demand for sustainable urban mobility. The study acknowledges TMUK’s overall project excellence and will further strengthen our members’ capabilities.”
Iain Roche, CEO of ELM, added:
“The cost of developing a modern vehicle is significant. Our customers expect high quality components and its critical we access stable supply chains to meet the significant demand we are seeing from the market. Working with Toyota is a perfect solution; they are global leaders in manufacturing quality and the parts volumes from the two niche vehicles when combined together give both parties significant economies of scale.”
Carsten Astheimer, Founder and Co-CEO of ELM, said:
“Starting a new automotive company is hard! ELM Mobility has realized that collaboration will be key to its success and is working with Toyota who is developing a next generation micromobility passenger car aimed at the European market. The Toyota vehicle, whilst very different to the ELM solution, has the potential to enable considerable component commonization and reduced development costs across the 2 platforms. ELM’s customers require reliability and component quality, and this collaboration is a perfect solution.”
