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Home | Green Cars News | Business | Volkswagen, Toshiba to Cooperate on Electric Vehicles

Volkswagen, Toshiba to Cooperate on Electric Vehicles

12 February, 2009 12:58:00

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Volkswagen announced it will cooperate with Toshiba on the development of electric drive units and the accompanying power electronics for Volkswagen's planned New Small Family.

Furthermore, Volkswagen and Toshiba are planning the development of battery systems with a high specific energy density for the next generation of electric vehicles.

Toshiba has invested $194 million to expand production of its super charge ion battery (SCiB) cells to 3 million cells per month in 2010.

With the investment, the company made significant step forward in race for lithium ion batteries in cars and it will join the ranks of Japan's Sanyo Electric Co., Panasonic EV Energy Co. and NEC Corp. in supplying lithium ion batteries to automakers.

Toshiba SCiB the Super Charge ion Battery can recharge to 90%
of full capacity in less than five minutes.

The chairman of the board of management at Volkswagen AG, Prof. Dr Martin Winterkorn, emphasised: "Volkswagen is forging ahead with the development of future drive technologies in many different areas. In order to further strengthen our position, Volkswagen is investing in the long term and is offering cooperation projects to other companies. One of the important components in this context is the cooperation with Toshiba. I am convinced that this will be a major step forward towards the development of series production electric vehicles for our customers." Volkswagen's objective, he said, is to be the first manufacturer to provide an emissions-free, affordable and safe large-scale production electric vehicle. "A considerable amount of research and development work still has to be carried out until we can produce the electric vehicle, in the field of lithium-ion battery technology in particular and this is an area in which the Volkswagen Group is working with further potential technological partners alongside Toshiba ", stated Prof. Dr Winterkorn.

Volkswagen is working with another Japanese electronic giant - Sanyo Electric Co., on new and extremely efficient high-performance storage systems based on lithium-ion technology.

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