With the gradual shift to electric vehicles, expect to hear more about auto makers building battery plants and less about them erecting engine-building facilities. After Honda’s announcement, it has come to light that Toyota is constructing two plants to manufacture batteries used in hybrid cars.
Toyota Motor Corporation has signed a joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the company that manufactures Panasonic products. One plant will produce nickel-metal hydride batteries, and the other will produce lithium-ion cells. The former is what is currently used in hybrid car and the latter type of battery is a newer technology and current applications include mobile phones and laptops. It is expected to make its way into hybrid and electric cars as well thanks to its higher energy density. Toyota’s lithium-ion cells may be used for plug-in hybrids as well, which means the batteries can be recharged by plugging them into a socket in the house. Well, the garage, at any rate.
Toyota hopes to sell a million hybrids annually after 2010 – an interesting fact, since the Prius has just reached cumulative sales of a million units.
