After rumors and speculation that the two Japanese titans were working together on a new project, Toyota and Panasonic have confirmed that they will establish a joint venture to develop and manufacture batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).
The joint venture will integrate management and other resources from both companies, with Toyota contributing experience, technology and market data related to EVs, as well as Toyota-style manufacturing capabilities (monozukuri). For its part, Panasonic will contribute: technologies related to high-capacity and high-output batteries, battery mass-production technologies and a customer base both in Japan and overseas.
The ratio of equity participation in the joint venture will be 51 percent for Toyota and 49 percent for Panasonic. Toyota will transfer equipment and personnel to the joint venture in the areas of development and production engineering related to battery cells. Panasonic will transfer equipment, other assets, liabilities, personnel and other items to the joint venture in the areas of development, production engineering, manufacturing (at plants in Japan and in Dalian, China), procurement, order receipt and management functions related to the automotive prismatic battery business.
The total number of employees from both companies related to operations subject to transfer to the joint venture is 3,500 (as of the end of December 2018).
“Together with Panasonic, we want to hone our competitiveness in batteries, which represent one of the core technologies of electrified vehicles,” said Toyota Executive Vice President Shigeki Terashi. “By contributing to the popularization of Toyota's and other automakers' electrified vehicles, we want to help find solutions to issues such as global warming, environment-related challenges, and energy-related challenges. We have high expectations for the new company, including―as we aim to deliver ever-better electrified vehicles to even more customers―its role in fulfilling our plans for the popularization of electrified vehicles…”
“Uniting with Toyota's battery and production-engineering technologies provides us an excellent opportunity for being able to evolve our automotive prismatic batteries, which have an established track record of performance and safety, faster than ever,” said Panasonic Senior Managing Executive Office Masahisa Shibata. “Through the electrification of vehicles, we want to accelerate our contribution to the realization of a society of mobility that is kind to the environment.”
Products produced by the joint venture will be sold to various automakers through, in principle, Panasonic.
For more on EVs, check out Will Your Electric Car Save the World or Wreck It?