Jan 22 2019

Toyota and Panasonic to Create an Electric Car-Battery Spinoff Company

According to Nikkei Asia Review, Toyota and Panasonic have agreed to spin off a new company that will manufacture vehicle batteries, with Toyota owing 51 percent of the company and Panasonic owing 49 percent.

According to report, Panasonic has decided to transfer ownership of five battery factories in Japan to this joint venture.  The joint venture is expected to start operations “in early 2020,” and it would begin production of more powerful batteries than the capacity of those now used in hybrid vehicles. The joint venture aims to bring down production costs through higher volume.

The joint venture aims to propel the technology used in solid-state batteries. Solid state batteries have not been commercially produced yet, but they supposed to be lighter, safer and have a more competitive energy capacity as compared to the existing lithium-ion batteries. Toyota has been working on these batteries for years.

Panasonic has vast experience mass-manufacturing new battery technology that also includes a partnership on the massive Tesla Gig factory in Nevada. Toyota has made improvements in the hybrid-vehicle market, but when in the field of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), the Japanese automaker has lagged behind the other companies.

Toyota leadership considers hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as the future.