Over the past few years, we’ve seen a variety of ways Toyota has tried to offer us different hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are just a few. It appears, they have decided on a plan and will look to add EV models to every single name in the Toyota lineup.

New Relationships for Toyota

Because of this directional shift, Toyota is looking for the right partner to make sure the brand can have the battery power. They want to have a decent range and efficiency when the time comes. Who would Toyota wish to partner with for the new EV initiative? It seems the right choice would be the same company that builds the batteries for the Tesla brand. The leader in the EV market, Panasonic. Toyota has signed an agreement with Panasonic to develop the prismatic battery that is expected to be the future of automotive batteries. Panasonic batteries have one of the longest-lasting charges and will give Toyota Customers the driving experience that they expect from one of the leading car manufacturers in the market.

The Battery Shap Matters

The current version of batteries Toyota uses in its vehicles are either plug-in hybrid models or pure EV versions. These batteries are cylindrical, the new Panasonic is prismatic shaped, which is expected to offer longer ranges and a faster charging time when used to power vehicles. This unique shape will make it possible for the Toyota models that are EVs to be able to offer a range that will be more useful than the EV choices we’ve had in the past. 

Speed Up Production

Toyota also has partnered with Mazda and Denso to help accelerate the development of the EV parts. This partnership will eventually lead to the solid-state batteries that will be expected to hold a charge and offer a much longer range than what we currently have for the drive. Once we see the solid-state batteries, we will see shorter charging times and longer driving ranges compared to the lithium-ion batteries that we currently use when we have an EV model. Panasonic is the world’s largest supplier of EV batteries, which makes it the right choice for Toyota, the largest automaker in the world. The mass production of battery cells has begun at the Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada, and the company will also open a new plant in Dalian, China, to supply the batteries to Toyota. There is a plan to begin production lines in Japan as well to make their products more readily available to Toyota and make sure this giant automaker can have the batteries needed to power the EV models of the future. This movement toward EV models for Toyota is an exciting improvement in what can expect to find in the development of affordable EV cars for the future.