Toyota, Panasonic Considering Joint Development Of EV Batteries

Despite cars being on the road for as long as they have, you couldn’t really say that we’ve perfected the design, as improvements can always be made to things like the engine, the aerodynamics, tires, and so on. The same is doubly true for electric cars which have been around for much less time.

On this front we’re talking about the batteries used in EVs, which is apparently an area that Toyota and Panasonic are considering teaming up for (via Reuters). Both companies recently made a joint announcement in which both companies indicated that they were considering working together towards furthering the development of batteries of EVs, or to be more specific, prismatic batteries.

This will be a departure from regular batteries used in EVs, like those used in Tesla which are cylindrical in nature. Prismatic batteries on the other hand are flat and pouch-shaped with a higher energy density, although the downside is that they are vulnerable to overheating and swelling, something you definitely don’t want to see while you’re driving.

Speaking at the joint news conference, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said, “The auto industry faces many hurdles to developing next-generation batteries which are difficult for automakers or battery makers to tackle on their own. It would be difficult for us to meet our 2030 goals given the current pace of battery development. That’s why we’re looking to Panasonic and other companies to help us develop ever-better cars and batteries.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: Green, Transportation
Tags: Electric Cars, Panasonic, toyota