The hybrid battery joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic is raising annual production at its Japanese plants to about a million by next year, officials said Friday.
Panasonic EV Energy Co., 60 percent owned by Toyota Motor Corp. and 40 percent by electronics maker Panasonic Corp., makes batteries for the new Prius hybrid, which has been a hit since rolling out last month, becoming the best-selling vehicle in Japan in May.
The company, based in Kosai, central Japan, already controls 80 percent of the global market in such auto batteries. It is building its third Japanese plant, in Miyazaki, southwestern Japan, which will be running by next year, said Masashi Otani, a general manager.
Panasonic EV made about 500,000 battery packs last year.
Officials said battery pack sizes vary with car models, but are counted by using the Prius battery pack as a standard unit.
The growth in hybrids has taken off only in recent months.
The company, founded in 1996, the year before the Prius went on sale, took until last year to reach cumulative sales of 2 million battery packs.
Panasonic EV does business with other companies, including Honda Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. But officials said its business with General Motors Corp. tapered off to zero because of the U.S. automaker's financial woes.
Panasonic is also acquiring Japanese rival Sanyo Electric Co., and the combination is likely to be a plus, according Eric Lee, a Barclays Capital analyst in Tokyo.
Panasonic through its Toyota joint venture could eventually account for nearly 90 percent of nickel-metal hydride batteries, currently used in Prius cars, and about 35 percent to 40 percent of lithium-ion batteries, planned for Toyota's plug-in hybrid available in limited numbers later this year, he said a report this week.
"If the Sanyo-Panasonic transaction is completed, the new combined entity could potentially become the most active major Japanese consumer electronics company in automotive battery technology," the report said.
But technological hurdles remain.
Toyota Managing Officer Koei Saga acknowledged concerns about lithium-ion batteries overheating in laptop computers, which resulted in millions being recalled globally in recent years.
"We don't want the kind of troubles that happened with PCs," he told reporters.
Two teams at Panasonic EV are working on next-generation lithium-ion batteries, and the company will market the product from the team that comes up with a winner, officials said, while declining to go into details.
