Mubasher: The Car manufacturer Toyota has partnered with electronics company Panasonic to form the joint venture (JV), ‘Prime Planet Energy & Solutions’, to manufacture car batteries.

The staff of the new JV of the Japan-based companies will include 5,100 employees, including 2,400 from China, according to a recent press release by GlobalData.

The venture will develop and manufacture prismatic lithium-ion batteries, as well as solid-state and “next-generation” batteries.

Matthew Farmer, GlobalData’s power technology writer, said: “This joint venture has been in development since 2017, and was more recently discussed in January 2019. It will begin operations from April, with total listed assets of $914.700 million (¥100 million).”

Meanwhile, GlobalData’s director analyst of automotive product development, Calum MacRae, remarked: “This confirms Toyota is fully entering the pure-electric vehicle ring. While it has dabbled before, this signifies it is entering with both feet.”

MacRae referred that this partnership proves Toyota’s keenness to develop solid-state batteries as its Lexus has launched its LF30 concept to use solid-state batteries.

He concluded: “Solid state is a bit of a holy grail for the industry – promising greater storage, faster charging times, enhanced fire safety and reduced production costs.”