Toyota and Matsushita building new battery plants in Japan
If Toyota has any chance of meeting its stated goal of selling a million hybrids per year within the next decade, it's going to need lots and lots of batteries. Along with its partner, Matsushita, Toyota already has plants in operation to build the necessary nickel metal hydride battery packs, and one of those plants will be enlarged in order to meet capacity requirements. Two additional plants will also be built in Japan, one of which will begin production of the newer lithium ion batteries which are likely to be installed in future Lexus hybrids and Prius sedans. Toyota's full investment in these three battery plants is said to be roughly 20 billion yen, which is equal to 192 million dollars. Toyota's dominance in the hybrid vehicle market is going to be challenged as fuel prices continue to rise. Recently, along with its partner NEC, Nissan announced that it was building a new plant to build advanced lithium ion packs for electric vehicles and hybrids. Additionally, General Motors is getting closer to releasing its new Volt, which many believe is superior in design over Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive.
[Source: AFP]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CUNTLY 9:03AM (5/27/2008)
!!!!!TSRIF
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Tricky dicky 10:07AM (5/27/2008)
Well, I'll keep praying for a correctly valued yen.. As American as the kimono.. lol..
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steveo391 1:07PM (5/27/2008)
And why are they not building the plants over here?
I bet there will still be people on here who defend the loss of their jobs to japan. What with toyota being the greatest thing to ever happen to this world!!!!
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tanooki2003 2:14PM (5/27/2008)
They will not build plants like that here until our technology in areas like this improves.
And for that to happen it needs to first start at our educational systems beginning with elementary and middle schools. Teachers need to be more motivated teachers and the students need to be motivated and garnish an interest in the field of science. Then once in high school the students need to take that interest to a new level by challenging themselves to become better and participate in science contests. Students really need to be motivated and challenged in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, math, and electronics that way we can be on par with most other countries, especially Japan.
Once the students graduating high school have reached their true academic capabilities then they would be properly prepared and confident for some of the more challenging colleges or challenging college courses instead of just coasting by on a glimmer of hope and luck. Once those students graduate becoming engineers in various areas then once again our infrastructure can rebuild and the USA can move back on top by having these diligent engineers discover new technologies and new ways to better harness energy, better chemical structure for a longer lasting high current & high capacity battery, better automotive technologies put back into Detroit...etc You get my point.
Right now it's not enough to say that we have some of the best colleges, especially when most students out of high school in this country will feel totally lost if they entered one of these colleges.
Dustin 1:22PM (5/27/2008)
Granted, I don't like Toyota... But how can anyone think that a non-existent car (Volt) is superior to an existing one?
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whofan 8:36PM (5/27/2008)
The Volt exhist, its the batteries that need development.
Toyota doesn`t like the idea of GM building the Volt. Wonder why?
Toyota shouldn`t worry. They will just copy the volts system and build it themselves when they get their hands on one. People will then credit Toyota for building a superior product.
Jon 12:45PM (5/28/2008)
The Volt exists? Where can I buy one? How much is it?
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