TM Toyota eyes weekend output in Sept. on strong demand for Prius hybrid "Toyota Corp. plans to resume a weekend production schedule in September, following one it implemented in July, to meet strong demand for the remodeled car thanks to recent government tax breaks and subsidies for fuel-efficient cars, company officials said Tuesday. Separately, Toyota said it has received domestic orders for around 10,000 units of its first hybrid-only version of the luxury Lexus -- the HS250h -- in a month after its debut in mid-July, far eclipsing its monthly target of 500 units."
It looks like my prediction might be coming true - that there will be just as much demand for the 250h as there is for the Prius, and the two vehicles will be competing for battery supplies. I am glad that Toyota is resuming the weekend work shift. The more Priuses on Earth, the better.
It's also good that Toyota is looking to Sanyo for additional batteries since Panasonic doesn't appear to be able to keep up. But what that will that mean for other manufacturers who rely on Sanyo for batteries (I believe at least Honda and Ford use Sanyo batteries).
Don't worry. Honda isn't selling any Insights anyway. I think Sanyo will have plenty of batteries for the Prius.
Please be aware that Toyota's hybrid batteries are made by "Panasonic EV Energy". The "Panasonic EV Energy" is owned by Toyota(60%) and Panasonic(40%). Sanyo agreed to become a subsidiary of Panasonic in December 2008, so Sanyo will be owned by Panasonic in the near future. The Sanyo's hybrid battery division will be a part of "Panasonic EV Energy", I believe. Sanyo is not a competitor, but it is one of partners of Toyota. Ken@Japan
LOL! That's something I forgot was in the works. Will be interesting to see if the Japanese government will allow this to go through. Will definitely be good for Toyota. Good for others who rely on Sanyo? Not sure...
Wow. That could make everything a lot better. Hopefully, Panasonic EV Energy will just send their blueprints right over to Sanyo then and make things a heck of a lot easier. This will help Toyota realize their one million plus battery units per year goal a lot quicker.
Hi Ken, the EV-95 NiMH battery frrom Panasonic still powers Rav4-ev's down the road for 100 miles ... and the rav4 is not a light car, compared to the Nissan leafe, the Imiev, etc. chevron sold off their interest, yet the best proven battery still isn't taken out of moth balls. The patent owners of the Panasonic EV-95 NiMH battery say the only reason there's no more production is because the cost of manufacturing is too great. One would think that because Toyota owns such a big interest in Panasonic battery technology they'd revive that well proven chemestry. Sure, lithium looks like it will go far, but the EV-95's already have a proven track record. Perhaps it will never be understood why this high energy battery met such a quick AND irreversable death. .
Chevron are in the process of selling Cobasys (and hence the patents) to SB LiMotive, a joint-venture of Samsung and Bosch, but it looks like the restrictive rules on Toyota/Panasonic EV Energy will remain in place - Chevron will still get some of the royalty payments, up until the patents expire in 2014. I'm hoping SB LiMotive haven't bought the NiMH patents just in order to continue to squash them.
That's crazy, but in a good way. I mean I agree, the more hybrids on the planet the better but it's just surprising because just when I was thinking surely Lexus hybrids were a washout this 250 whatever actually has 10,000 orders. This is cool: http://green.autoblog.com/2009/07/20/lexus-hs250h-officially-priced-starting-at-34-200/
