Prius Sales are Exploding in Japan: 392% More than a Year Ago in July

[SyCo]

People Wouldn't Have Believed You a Few Years Ago
The stars were aligned for the Prius in Japan: A new model, rising fuel prices, and new government incentives. The Prius has been the #1 car in Japan for three months in a row, and there's a 10-month waiting list according to some reports, with production maxed out because there aren't enough battery packs to make more (Panasonic EV Energy makes 500,000 a year).

Full article Prius Sales are Exploding in Japan: 392% More than a Year Ago in July

[Rybold]

It's excellent to see sales up almost 400%, but how much is Toyota being held back by Panasonic? If Toyota can only produce 100 cars per unit time and Pansonic can only produce 98 batteries per unit time, then they aren't being held back very much. But, if Panasonic can only produce 60 batteries per the same unit time, then Toyota is being held back significantly by Panasonic.

Help me do some math here. If Panasonic can only produce 500,000 batteries per year, then that is 41,666 batteries per month. How many Priuses did Toyota sell globally last month? 41,666?

2010 Toyota Prius a Big Hit, But Battery Bottleneck is Holding Back Production : TreeHugger

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[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by Rybold

It's excellent to see sales up almost 400%, but how much is Toyota being held back by Panasonic? If Toyota can only produce 100 cars per unit time and Pansonic can only produce 98 batteries per unit time, then they aren't being held back very much. But, if Panasonic can only produce 60 batteries per the same unit time, then Toyota is being held back significantly by Panasonic.

Help me do some math here. If Panasonic can only produce 500,000 batteries per year, then that is 41,666 batteries per month. How many Priuses did Toyota sell globally last month? 41,666?

2010 Toyota Prius a Big Hit, But Battery Bottleneck is Holding Back Production : TreeHugger

.

They're up to 32,000 right now. The other 10,000 is probably for the TCH, HiHy, RXh, GSh and LSh.

[Rybold]

Originally Posted by Tideland Prius

They're up to 32,000 right now. The other 10,000 is probably for the TCH, HiHy, RXh, GSh and LSh.

Thank you. So technically, until Prius sales are up to 41,666, the Prius sales aren't being limited by Panasonic; however, total Toyota hybrid sales are being limited by Panasonic.

[Tideland Prius]

when I say up to 32,000, it's because my VIN is in that range so don't entirely quote me in the numbers. I'd say Ken might have a better idea of the numbers.


Yeah probably which indirectly affects Prius production.

[ken1784]

Originally Posted by Rybold

It's excellent to see sales up almost 400%, but how much is Toyota being held back by Panasonic?

Please be aware that the 60% of Panasonic EV Energy is owned by Toyota.
Capitalization of Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd. Increased

The Panasonic EV Energy's HV battery production plan is 800,000 in 2009 and 1,100,000 in 2010.

Originally Posted by Tideland Prius

I'd say Ken might have a better idea of the numbers.

My observation and guess for July sales are as follows;
Japan Prius: 27,712
Japan other: 3,000 (guess)
US Prius: 19,173
US other: 5,122
other all: 5,000 (guess)
-----------------------
total: approx 60,000 in July

Ken@Japan

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by ken1784

. . .
My observation and guess for July sales are as follows;
Japan Prius: 27,712
Japan other: 3,000 (guess)
US Prius: 19,173
US other: 5,122
other all: 5,000 (guess)
-----------------------
total: approx 60,000 in July

The "US other" and "Japan other" hybrids require more battery modules than the 28 modules used in the Prius. Although typically small, 6 extra modules per Camry, it means every 5 Camrys use the same amount of batteries as 6 Prius. I was reminded of this when I noticed the local dealer had 5 Camry and 1 Prius on the lot but I didn't look for Highlanders. I don't know where Ford gets their batteries but I suspect they may come from the same Panasonic plant.

BTW, NiMH batteries also use rare earths, which come from China. China also wants a piece of the hybrid market, not just supply raw resources, so that will be another draw on hybrid battery resources. We live in interesting times.

Bob Wilson

[spwolf]

ford has partnership with some other japanese supplier (i forgot, maybe sanyo), panasonic toyota JV capacity is for toyota vehicles only.


they actually increased capacity this year and will do futher increases next year as ken mentioned, so they are not really being constrained.

[Rybold]

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

BTW, NiMH batteries also use rare earths, which come from China. China also wants a piece of the hybrid market, not just supply raw resources, so that will be another draw on hybrid battery resources. We live in interesting times.
Bob Wilson

Which is exactly why recycling of NiMH automobile batteries must be an imperative. I agree with you though that if China is the "middle east" of rare earth metals, then the shift from oil to batteries will create some interesting political-economic times ahead for us.
Also, China can't be the only source of rare earth metals. There must be other areas of the Earth that have such metals.

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by ken1784

Please be aware that the 60% of Panasonic EV Energy is owned by Toyota.
Capitalization of Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd. Increased

The Panasonic EV Energy's HV battery production plan is 800,000 in 2009 and 1,100,000 in 2010.

My observation and guess for July sales are as follows;
Japan Prius: 27,712
Japan other: 3,000 (guess)
US Prius: 19,173
US other: 5,122
other all: 5,000 (guess)
-----------------------
total: approx 60,000 in July

Ken@Japan

wow... more Prius were sold in Japan than in the US in July?

Also, so we're up to nearly 50,000 Priuses in two countries alone.