Toyota And Panasonic To Co-Develop Much Higher Capacity EV Batteries

Toyota and Panasonic intend on forming a joint venture for the development of electric vehicle batteries, a new report has revealed.

Nikkei Asian Review reports that the joint venture will be established next year and that Toyota will hold a 51 per cent stake and Panasonic the rest. The joint venture will see Panasonic move five of its existing automotive battery production facilities in China and Japan to this new company.

It is reported that the two companies intend on creating batteries with 50 times the capacity of those currently used in most hybrid vehicles.

Toyota won’t be the only automaker to benefit from these batteries. In fact, they will also be supplied to Mazda, Daihatsu and Subaru. It’s also possible that Honda could make use of the advanced, high-capacity batteries also.

The joint venture won’t just see Toyota and Panasonic develop and produce more advanced lithium-ion batteries but will also involve a partnership aimed at developing the next-generation of batteries, including solid-state cells. We’ve known about Toyota and Panasonic’s shared interest in solid state batteries after they reached a separate deal in 2017 to explore the technology.

Toyota believes that through its partnership with Panasonic it will be able to drastically cut the cost of battery production and catch up to Volkswagen with a comprehensive offering of all-electric models in the coming years. By 2030, the Japanese automaker hopes to be selling 5.5 million electrified vehicles annually.

Panasonic isn’t new to working with automakers on EV batteries, and already works with Tesla on its battery packs.