Though this may not be the car in your garage, hybrid cars have evolved to enable substantial reduction in fuel consumption and pollution. They receive their power from a regular gasoline engine and a battery powered electric motor. They offer high mileage by balancing the load on the engine and with some hybrids the energy that is otherwise lost in brakes, is actually recovered. Read more »
TOKYO — Sanyo and Germany’s Volkswagen AG will develop lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles as global automakers race to develop more environmentally friendly technology.
Japanese electronics maker Sanyo Electric Co. said Wednesday it will invest 80 billion yen ($769 million) to expand production by 2015 of such batteries, with plans to start mass producing them in a Japanese plant by next year, making 15,000 to 20,000 batteries a year.
The deal with Volkswagen, announced Wednesday, follows a 2006 agreement between Sanyo and Volkswagen agreed to work together in nickel metal hydride batteries, now used in most gas-electric hybrids like Toyota’s Prius.