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Toyota: The Japanese are investing billions in the race for the best electric car battery

2021-09-09T05:30:29.629Z


Toyota has long relied on hybrid vehicles when it comes to electric cars. That is changing, because the world's largest car manufacturer does not want to lose touch. The Japanese now want to invest around 14 billion dollars in the development of new batteries.


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Toyota Prius:

Most of Toyota's electrified cars are still on the road as hybrid vehicles, and the number of purely electric cars is expected to increase.

But Toyota will not commit to one type of drive in the future either

Photo: FRED PROUSER / REUTERS

The future of car traffic is electric - who would seriously have doubts, in view of the rapidly increasing number of registrations, enormous investments by manufacturers and billions in buying incentives in many countries?

But one thing is also clear: In order to actually help the electric car to make a massive breakthrough, you not only need a nationwide charging infrastructure, but also affordable models and, above all, cheaper batteries.

Because the battery is still the most expensive component in an electric car.

When building battery capacities, car manufacturers are in a real race.

Almost every month, manufacturers and financiers are announcing high investments in new battery factories, and some experts are even warning of an oversupply of battery cells.

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Toyota, previously known primarily as a supplier of hybrid models without charging plugs, now plans to invest almost 14 billion dollars in battery development in order not to be left behind in this race for cheaper e-cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

By 2030, the Japanese want to have a battery capacity of up to 200 gigawatt hours installed in their then eight million electrified cars - one million of which should then be pure electric cars.

Unlike Volkswagen, for example, Toyota is relying more on a mix of battery technologies. On the one hand, Toyota wants to use lithium-ion technology, in which battery cells use gaseous hydrogen as an active material, and to expand this technology further. On the other hand, Toyota relies on solid-state or solid-state batteries. They are considered to be a beacon of hope compared to the previously leading lithium-ion battery technology in order to achieve longer ranges and faster charging times. They are also considered to be cheaper and safer because they do not use liquid, which tend to be flammable, solutions.

"We feel we are one step closer to commercialization after recognizing short lifespan as an issue," said Masahiko Maeda, Toyota's chief technology officer, in a briefing for investors.

The automaker wants to use solid-state batteries more in hybrids in order to bring the technology to market more quickly.

Toyota plans to send the first cars with the new battery type on test drives in the coming year, and this type of battery could then possibly be ready for series production in the second half of this decade.

The price of car batteries should be cut by half - with more power

The goal is ambitious: By developing more powerful and new types of batteries for fully electric and electrified cars, Toyota aims to cut the cost per car battery by around half by 2030 and increase performance by up to a third.

In order to achieve this goal, Toyota wants to expand its cooperation with suppliers such as CATL, Panasonic and Toshiba.

It remains to be seen whether a certain type of battery, such as the solid-state battery, will actually prevail in the end.

It is clear that the competition is not sleeping.

Because in order to be able to meet the more stringent climate targets, manufacturers have to bring more vehicles with alternative drives into their fleets.

This is one of the reasons why the competitor Volkswagen, for example, is speeding up and plans to build six battery cell factories in Europe with partners by 2030, also in order to make itself less dependent on Asian suppliers.

In addition, the Wolfsburg-based company recently ordered batteries worth 14 billion dollars for the next decade from their battery cell partner Northvolt.

Following the latest financing round, Volkswagen continues to hold around a fifth of the shares in the most important European battery manufacturer.

The Swedes want to increase their annual production capacity to 150 gigawatt hours by 2030 and are aiming for a market share of 25 percent in Europe.

rei

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-09-09

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