DETROIT — It seems odd: After all the research Toyota Motor and its partner, Panasonic, have done in the area of advanced lithium-ion batteries, the Japanese carmaker decided that maybe Tesla Motors’ crude approach–stringing together a bunch of laptop batteries–is the preferred way to power electric vehicles, at least for now.
The two companies said Friday they have signed an agreement to start developing an electric version of Toyota’s ( TM – news – people ) RAV4 SUV to go on sale in 2012. It’s the first fruits of a partnership announced in May, when Toyota purchased a $50 million stake in the startup electric car company, and Tesla purchased a former Toyota factory in Fremont, Calif.
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Yahoo! BuzzTesla will deliver 30 to 35 electric RAV4 prototypes by the first of the year, a Toyota spokesman said.
Toyota is still going ahead with plans for a small urban electric car for 2012, likely powered by lithium batteries made by Panasonic, its joint venture partner in Japan.
But Toyota, the leader in hybrid-electric vehicles, still isn’t convinced there’s a large market for electric vehicles. “If we’re going to make these vehicles successful, especially after government incentives go away, we’re going to have make them affordable,” said company spokesman John Hanson.
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Source: forbes.com
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