Toyota is working with Tesla to create a small battery-powered car for launch in 2012. The company would like to experiment with Tesla’s lithium-ion battery cells as an alternative to creating batteries on their own.
“We’re at the stage of working towards a prototype and once that’s completed and we’ve reached that milestone, I’d like to announce more about what we’re working on together,” said Toyota President Akio Toyoda, adding about the batteries, “We’ll see which better meets the needs of consumers. We’re taking a multifaceted approach.
Toyota Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki added that the company is open to partnerships, since alternative fuel engines could take off in the next few years. “It’s hard for a single company to take on environmental technology all alone because of the need for infrastructure. I think cooperation is going to be increasingly important,” Sasaki said.
Source: Reuters
