Toyota and Panasonic join forces to produce batteries for EVs – including solid-state batteries

A joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic will deliver batteries for EVs not just to Toyota but other car makers. It’s called Prime Planet Energy & Solutions.

Securing a stable supply of state-of-the-art batteries for electric cars has made the roll-out of new EVs more difficult than it already is for car makers. But Toyota has a solution.

Toyota has set up a joint venture with Panasonic – who already make batteries for Tesla and more – which they’ve called ‘Prime Planet Energy & Solutions’. Very woke.

The plan, according to Toyota, is to produce highly competitive, cost effective batteries with excellent performance, and to sell those to other car makers too (although, we’d expect, only when Toyota has enough for its needs).

The JV will be producing high-capacity, high-output prismatic lithium-ion batteries for cars and, specifically noted by Toyota in the press release, manufacture and sales of solid-state batteries, and seek to develop and manufacture next-gen batteries based on new principles.

The JV will start this year and will see around 5,100 employees working on the new batteries (including 2,400 at a subsidiary in China), with Panasonic relocating its manufacturing facilities in Japan and China.

It should lead to a more stable supply of batteries for electric cars, certainly for Toyota, but also for other electric car makers.