Toyota, Panasonic JV to build EV batteries

Automaker Toyota Motors and Panasonic established a battery joint-venture, Prime Planet Energy and Solutions, for electric automotive applications.

Prime Planet will supply batteries to Toyota and a wide range of mobility and automotive producers with an expected start of 1 April 2020. Toyota will retain a 51pc ownership, with the remaining 49pc under Panasonic.

The new company will have offices in Tokyo and Kansai, Japan, and employ roughly 5,100 and produce high-capacity high-output prismatic lithium-ion batteries.

A Chinese subsidiary is expected to employ 2,400.

In addition, the joint-venture will target automotive solid-state batteries and development of new "next-generation" batteries.

No details on the capacity or number of batteries the company will produce were provided.

Panasonic and Toyota laid out their plan for the joint-venture in a business-integration contract in January of 2019.

By Zach Schumacher