Toyota Motor Corp. has set up a division to speed up development of advanced lithium-ion batteries for the plug-in version of its popular Prius hybrid hatchback, a company executive told reporters on Tuesday.
The world's biggest automaker uses nickel-metal-hydride batteries in the current Prius hybrid.
But it plans to use the more-energy-efficient lithium batteries for the plug-in hybrid version of the car that will be launched in 2012, Toyota's head of battery development Koei Saga told reporters at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
"We believe a key to the electrical mobile technology lies in innovation of battery technology," he said. "Lithium-ion batteries will already be a step forward, but we need batteries that offer far superior performance."
Saga said the new division was established this month and includes about 50 engineers who are studying production processes for the next-generation batteries.
Saga also said Toyota has considered procuring some batteries from outside the company. Toyota has developed batteries with Japan's consumer electronics maker Panasonic Corp.
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