Toyota to sell batteries to other automakers

Part of Tesla Motors' ongoing business plan involves selling complete lithium ion battery packs to other auto manufacturers. The most recent example of this strategy was just announced at the Detroit Auto Show, with Tesla supplying packs to Daimler for its smart ed. Daimler, for its part, also wants to sell battery packs to its competitors. Joining these two manufacturers may soon be Toyota, as Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto has said in an interview that the Japanese giant would like to produce packs for its rivals. Since Toyota has such a large investment into batteries for its current and future range of hybrids, plug-ins and fully electric vehicles, it only makes sense to capotalize on all forms of incoming profit. Toyota owns 60 percent of a joint venture with Panasonic to produce lithium ion batteries specifically for use in electric vehicles, and the JV already sells nickel metal hydride packs to some automakers.

[Source: Bloomberg]