Japanese electronics maker Sanyo and Germany’s Volkswagen AG agreed to develop lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles, both sides said yesterday.
The latest agreement follows one in January 2006, when Sanyo Electric Co and Volkswagen agreed to work together on nickel metal hydride batteries, now used in most gas-electric hybrids like Toyota’s Prius.
Sanyo already provides nickel metal hydride batteries for Ford Motor Co, which makes the Escape hybrid, and Honda Motor Co, which makes the Civic hybrid.
“Our focus in future will be directed more strongly at making electrically powered automobiles alongside ones driven by more efficient combustion engines,” Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn said in Germany. “This cooperation is an important step for us.”
Lithium-ion batteries, widely used in laptops and other gadgets, are more powerful and can be smaller than nickel metal hydride batteries, promising potential to power future ecological cars. Volkswagen said it hopes to use lithium-ion batteries by 2010.
Many major automakers are racing to perfect the technology for hybrids, electric vehicles and other “green” cars. With their good mileage and lower emissions, such cars are becoming increasingly attractive to consumers.
The agreement between VW and Sanyo does not involve producing batteries at a jointly run plant. But Sanyo said yesterday that it will start mass producing lithium-ion batteries in a Japanese plant by next year, making 15,000 to 20,000 batteries a year.
Sanyo said it will invest ¥80 billion (US$769 million) to expand production by 2015, including setting up a new plant. It did not give details on the planned plant.
Concerns about ecology and global warming, as well as strict regulations in the US, Europe and other regions are pressuring companies to develop fuel-efficient vehicles.
In March, Volkswagen showed its Golf TDI Hybrid design study, which combined high-tech-diesel and electric motors to reduce fuel consumption.
Sanyo will also accelerate the development of lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, with hopes to start mass production by 2011, the company said in a statement.
Plug-in hybrids travel longer distances than an electric vehicle because they plug into a home outlet socket.
Hybrids deliver better mileage than comparable regular cars by switching between a gas engine and an electric motor.
On Tuesday, Toyota Motor Corp announced it was making its third battery plant in a joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co to make batteries for hybrids. The plants all make nickel metal hydride batteries; Toyota has not given details of its lithium-ion battery production plans.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
REACTIONS: While most analysts were positive about TSMC’s investment, one said the US expansion could disrupt the company’s supply-demand balance Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) new US$100 billion investment in the US would exert a positive effect on the chipmaker’s revenue in the medium term on the back of booming artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from US chip designers, an International Data Corp (IDC) analyst said yesterday. “This is good for TSMC in terms of business expansion, as its major clients for advanced chips are US chip designers,” IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) said by telephone yesterday. “Besides, those US companies all consider supply chain resilience a business imperative,” Zeng said. That meant local supply would
RSS