Click to enlarge

courtesy:www.carreview.com

"We are talking with more than five or six car makers on the co-development and supply of auto-use batteries," Masato Ito, Sanyo Electric's senior vice president, told Reuters.

The Lithium-ion batteries that Sanyo is working on for the auto industry are capable of holding more power than the nickel batteries that power the current model hybrids. This area seems to be a growing through quite a growth phase as a number of the world's largest carmakers rush to develop a better hybrid vehicle.

Sanyo and Volkswagen have been jointly and quietly developing lithium-ion batteries for the next generation of hybrid cars speeds that it wants to bring to market and Toyota has said it plans to start producing lithium-ion batteries for its Prius hybrid next year in a joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial.  

Another carmaker, Nissan has a joint venture with NEC to do the same and Koreas Hyundai is working on a hybrid version of its Sonata sedan. Even US carmaker GM is currently close to commercialising a hybrid vehicle in the North American market, which is not normally known for its green credentials.

However Sanyo the current in discussions with manufacturers in the US, Europe and Japan suggests the Japanese electronics giant is firmly establishing a foothold in an area it obviously believes will deliver it maximum returns and higher profits and where it does not have nearly as much competition as it does in areas like consumer electronics.