Toyota Motor Corp. is planning to mass-produce lithium ion batteries for its plug-in hybrid vehicles from this autumn as Panasonic Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. tool up to churn out similar products of their own, The Nikkei learned Wednesday.
- Hitachi will begin mass production of high-performance lithium ion batteries for plug-in hybrids in 2013.
A total of 10 billion yen will be spent to set up the automaker's first-ever production lines for lithium ion batteries at a plant in Aichi Prefecture and at a factory operated with Panasonic in Shizuoka Prefecture. These facilities will make batteries for plug-in hybrids, which Toyota plans to release in Japan, the U.S. and Europe at the start of 2012. The firm is expected to have the capability to make batteries for about 100,000 vehicles a year.
Toyota has been using nickel-metal hydride batteries for most of its hybrids, including the Prius. While lithium ion batteries are seen as more suitable for eco-cars, their high cost has been an issue. The automaker plans to use lithium ion batteries from Panasonic unit Sanyo Electric Co, but manufacturing them in-house will lead to more stable supplies and give it more control over performance and costs.
Panasonic plans to begin mass production of lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles at an Osaka plant as early as April. It has modified a small cylindrical battery widely used in such products as notebook computers, increasing capacity by about 20%. EVs are to be powered by thousands of these batteries. In addition to supplying the batteries to U.S. partner Tesla Motors Inc., Panasonic intends to market them to automakers at home and abroad.
Hitachi will begin mass production of high-performance lithium ion batteries for plug-in hybrids in 2013 at an Ibaraki Prefecture subsidiary that handles automotive batteries. Batteries for EVs are to be mass-produced from 2015. The firm, which already supplies batteries for General Motors Co. hybrids, developed products that allow vehicles to run farther.
Next-generation green vehicles from several automakers are expected to hit the market in 2012 and afterward. Global sales of electric cars will top 1 million units in 2015, according to some projections.
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