AG11 battery.Japanese companies accelerate development of battery technology

　　In recent months, Toyota has accelerated its transition to electric vehicles. First, it announced that it will increase the group's current global sales of electric vehicles, which account for about 15%, to 50% by around 2030, and invest 1.5 trillion yen in the development of vehicle batteries before 2030. Then it joined hands with Panasonic to develop the electric vehicle battery business.

　　As one of the leaders in the global automobile industry, Toyota has not been active in electric vehicles in the past, instead focusing on the research and development of hybrid vehicles and next-generation hydrogen energy vehicles. This major move toward electric vehicles is believed to be driven by two main reasons. First, its main competitor Volkswagen Group has accelerated the development of electric vehicles after the "emissions scandal" and will launch 80 electric vehicle models by 2025; second, the world is strengthening environmental protection restrictions on automobiles. The UK has announced a complete ban on the sale of fuel vehicles by 2040. China, the world's largest auto market, has also increased the sales proportion of electric vehicles and has put a ban on the sale of fuel vehicles on the agenda.

　　Toyota was not optimistic about electric vehicles before because there were bottlenecks in on-board battery technology. Existing liquid batteries were unable to meet the needs of long-distance driving in terms of safety and energy density. Therefore, whoever can make a breakthrough in battery technology in the future will hold the key to the electric vehicle market.

　　Panasonic, the partner chosen by Toyota, has a leading edge in battery development and is a supplier to Tesla Motors in the United States. Panasonic President Tsuga Kazuhiro recently said that he will cooperate with Toyota to develop the next generation of all-solid-state batteries, and it may take 5 to 10 years to complete the transition to all-solid-state batteries.

　　The positive electrode, negative electrode and electrolyte of the all-solid-state battery are all solid, there is no leakage problem, and the safety is high; charging can be completed in just a few minutes, which can be significantly shortened compared with the tens of minutes of the current mainstream lithium-ion battery. time; the battery capacity is expanded to extend the driving distance on a single charge.

　　A senior Japanese automobile industry consultant told this reporter that the electric vehicle strategy is a big challenge for Toyota and Japanese car companies. Compared with traditional fuel vehicles that require about 20,000 parts, electric vehicles only require 10,000 parts, and their operating methods are more similar to the IT and electronics industries, that is, standardization and plug-and-play of parts interfaces. This will break the existing advantage that Japanese car companies are good at coordinating with many parts companies. In addition, batteries account for about 60% of the cost of electric vehicles, and the existing value chain of Japanese car companies will face major adjustments.

　　Toyota President Akio Toyoda recently called on Japanese car companies to work together to develop unified specifications for batteries to combat competition from overseas counterparts.

　　Japan still has certain advantages in the three core technologies of electric vehicles - batteries, motors and electronic controls, but Europe, the United States and China are catching up. Volkswagen announced that it will invest 34 billion euros (approximately 4.5 trillion yen) in the development of electric technology from 2018 to 2022. The above-mentioned consultants believe that the electric vehicle industry requires heavy investment, and if Japanese car companies still stick to conventional thinking, they may miss the opportunity.

　　However, Toyota President Takeshi Uchiyamada believes that there are still many issues that need to be solved in terms of cruising range and battery life of pure electric vehicles. It will take time for the era of full automation of vehicles, and hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles will continue to be used for a long time. become mainstream.

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