Japanese compatriots Panasonic and Toshiba have concluded contracts toward setting up a joint venture (JV) company related to the automotive prismatic battery business.
The JV— which is subject to approval by anti-trust chiefs— will cover “research, development, production, engineering, manufacturing, procurement, order receipt, and management”.
Toyota will contribute equipment and personnel in the areas of development and production engineering related to battery cells, while Panasonic will contribute equipment and personnel to support activities including production, development, engineering and manufacturing (at its plants in Japan and Dalian, China).
The contracts follow an announcement from Toyota and Panasonic, made in December 2017, that they had agreed to conduct a feasibility study into forming “a joint automotive prismatic battery business”.
Executive vice-president of Toyota Shigeki Terashi (pictured) said: “We have high expectations for the new company including its role in fulfilling our plans for the popularisation of electrified vehicles.”
Panasonic’s senior managing executive officer Masahisa Shibata said: “Uniting with Toyota’s battery and production engineering technologies provides us an excellent opportunity of being able to evolve our automotive prismatic batteries.”
