[soopah]

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=123961

TOKYO — A Japanese joint venture that links Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and GS Yuasa Corp. in the development and mass production of large lithium-ion batteries said it will start annual capacity at 200,000 units and plans to ramp up production in 2009.

The companies, which announced plans for the lithium-ion battery venture in May, formalized their relationship on Wednesday.

One of the fruits of the joint venture is expected to be an upcoming electric car that Mitsubishi Motors plans to launch early in the next decade. The joint venture also intends to supply other automakers. Mitsubishi Corp. will hold a 34 percent stake in the joint venture, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will own 15 percent, and GS Yuasa will own 51 percent.

In a jointly issued statement, the partners said capitalization is expected to reach $36 million by next April. GS Yuasa began developing lithium-ion batteries about 10 years ago.

"Mitsubishi Corporation intends to enter the battery manufacturing business and aims to create other related businesses as well," the company said in a statement. "Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is working to promote greater use of electric vehicles, which is the ultimate in environmentally friendly automobiles.

The joint venture said it will use the lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and energy recycling systems.

What this means to you: This joint venture aims to drive down the prohibitive cost of lithium-ion batteries and make mass-produced electric vehicles a reality. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent

 

[Kooldino]

I doubt the evo will go hybrid anytime soon, but it may be cool to have some electric assist motors on it someday. Instant torque ftw.

 

[silvreclipse]

that would be nice but wonder how weak it will be being a hybrid sure it would get good gas mileage but power wise.

 

[Kooldino]

Properly placed electric motors could really help the performance of the evo...especially down low.

 

[on2it]

Totally possible that its not far away. The problem is the storage of power once thats sorted, it makes sense to put electric motors into each wheel hub.. better weight distribution too.

Edit:
yep I thought I saw this a couple of months ago:

http://www.autoblog.com/2005/08/24/mitsubishi-testing-lancer-evo-with-in-wheel-electric-motors/

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/203700/mitsubishi_evo.html

 

[FLK]

This is excellent news to the consumer. And brilliant of Mitsubishi to start battery manufacturing in-house in anticipation of their new electric cars.

I foresee this business venture as the REAL birth of the electric vehicle movement in the world. US Big Oil killed off domestic EV's in the late 90s as they realized it could put them out of business.

Start-ups like Tesla have the right idea, they just don't have the financial backing and investment from such a huge name like Mitsubishi HI. Now that a Japanese automaker is committed in realizing this new technology others will be forced to follow suit.
I guarantee US automakers will be dead last to do so (if at all) as they are controlled by Big Oil. They may try to smear once again and promote their useless hydrogen fuel cell BS.

 

[Jackygor]

Its very good news as it should put Mitsubishi ahead of the game in terms of electric sport sedan.

Any other companies going for the electric sport car? besides tesla?

 

[shadywade]

Totally possible that its not far away. The problem is the storage of power once thats sorted, it makes sense to put electric motors into each wheel hub.. better weight distribution too.

Edit:
yep I thought I saw this a couple of months ago:

http://www.autoblog.com/2005/08/24/mitsubishi-testing-lancer-evo-with-in-wheel-electric-motors/

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/203700/mitsubishi_evo.html

and the batteries are laid threwout the floor boards to create perfect balance the main problem was access for maintance

 

[J-sPeEd]

electric with turbo... hmm. sounds better for a supercharger right?

 

[soopah]

BTW, I worked in the Li-ion battery industry for quite a few years before I came back to the metal casting industry. This is exciting news and I truly hope that they start building affordable electric cars with real world range for performance. Safety is still a huge issue and production costs and raw material costs remain high. This will likely take the route of plug-in hybrid vehicles with larger batteries first, then some fully electric cars will start to be available a few years later. I predict at least 10 years before Mitsubishi would market an electric car in North America.