Toyota Boosting Hybrid Battery Production

Pushed by California's revised zero emissions vehicle mandate and its recognition of plug-in hybrid vehicles as a critical element in the state's war on auto emissions, the drive to boost hybrid battery production capacity is in full swing.

The latest news comes form Japan, where the daily Nikkei newspaper is reporting that Toyota Motor Co. and its battery partner Matsushita Electric, plan to spend nearly $700 million to build two new battery plants to supply the markets for gas-electric hybrids and for electric vehicles as the pace of their development increases.

One plant, expected to open in 2011, will be for nickel metal-hydride batteries, which Toyota believes will remain the battery of choice for many conventional hybrid applications.

That factory, according to the unusually detailed report, would have capacity for about 300,000 batteries a year.

The second plant, the newspaper said, would be for the lithium ion batteries that Toyota and Matsushita, owner of the Panasonic brand, presently are developing via their Panasonic EV Energy Co. joint venture.

It could be in production by 2010 with annual capacity of "tens of thousands" of batteries, according to the report.

Toyota has confirmed its plans for the new nickel metal-hydride battery plant but said in a statement Friday that "nothing concrete" has been decided in regard building a new factory for lithium ion batteries.

The company did say, however, that it is "constantly seeking" to optimize hybrid battery production.

Soaring gas and diesel prices and global concern over energy security and the continued long-term supply of oil are in part responsibly for renewed auto industry interest in hybrids and electric vehicles, which need powerful, long-lived and energy-dense batteries.

But California's recently revise "ZEV" mandate is probably the biggest driver. It requires the major automakers selling passenger vehicles in the state to produce thousands of expensive battery- and fuel-cell electric cars for sale in California, and permits them to offset a lot of the requirement with tens of thousands of less-expensive, easier-to-produce plug-in hybrid cars and trucks.

Industry analysts at Global Insight said in a subscription-only report that Toyota's plant-building plan "confirms" that Toyota "has broken through the technical reliability threshold" for lithium ion batteries, which are considered the key to successful development of EVs and hybrids that can meet consumer demand for long range and rapid recharging.

Lithium ion batteries are smaller, lighter, faster to charge and capable of holding more power than nickel-metal hydride batteries and, according to the Global Insight analysis, have "the potential to revolutionize EV's range and their real-world usability."

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

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John O'Dell May 23, 2008, 10:01 AM

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Batteries, Toyota