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Important-New Toyota HYBRID BATTERIES are now made in China

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by ski.dive, Jun 19, 2024.

  1. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    thank you,
    i don't see any way to tell where these batteries are going. do they no longer make batteries in japan? hard to say, but this is their fourth chinese factory, so who knows?
     
  2. Dduelin2

    Dduelin2 New Member

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    Manufacturing plants in China or Japan can produce products to whatever level of quality is specified in contract then it's up to the buyer and manufacturer to set up and maintain quality control protocols to maintain quality over time. It's not a given that all Japanese products in 2024 are automatically qualitatively better than or higher quality than the same products produced in China. China builds more BEVs than any other country along with advanced jet aircraft and just landed a spacecraft on the moon. I'm not advocating for Chinese products but it's just an old stereotype to assume quality level based on origin country without more information. For all we know the batteries produced in Japan are assembled with components manufactured elsewhere.
     
    #22 Dduelin2, Jun 19, 2024
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2024
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Thanks for this! This is a valuable perspective to help people better understand the difference between Asian and American manufacturing... Another aspect that's important to remember is that Asian manufacturing is far more open and collaborative. If you want to have your product manufactured in Asia, they'll not only give you a tour of the factory, but there's also a certain amount of cooperation and collaboration between factories that compete against each others.

    Whereas in American factories there's an atmosphere of secrecy about what happens behind close doors, even people taking pictures of the outside of their buildings from a public space will be perceived as a threat and competing factories will spend more time attacking each other rather than sharing knowledge, advancements and cooperative opportunities with each other.

    Though it is true that US patent & trademark laws are harder to enforce in Asia and Southeast Asia, the myth of Asian manufacturing being lower quality than the US has more to do with a racists and colonialist ideology in the US & Europe, than actual substance of one being higher quality than the other.

    For example:

    I follow a guy on Tiktok who is building electric logging trucks by putting diesel generators in them and while I oppose logging, I've been impressed by how much success he's had in past few years with his prototypes. Last month when the recent extremist US tariffs were announced on Chinese imports he filmed a video explaining that China's policy of being open and available to show their facilities to prospective clients is entirely different to the secrecy and close-mindedness of manufactures in the US. In the video he also says that in China competitors share their advancements with each other, but we don't do that in the US and suggests that's why China is finding so much more success: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwoTS6U/
     
  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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  5. Mr.Vanvandenburg

    Mr.Vanvandenburg Senior Member

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    I thought large companies like Toyota, Denso, Bosch, etc built their own factories in China. China the government doesn’t say come look at our factory we have here for you. Inside the factory, it would be made to the same specs as anywhere.
    I guess it would be like Toyota making the Tundra in Alabama, even the engines. Those are known to be some of the best engines in the world like the 4.6 V8.
     
  6. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    ^ That. That right there. Thread is worthless scaremongering.

    @ski.dive shame on you for pushing that garbage.
     
  7. ski.dive

    ski.dive Active Member

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    Why the nasty insults???

    ''It's NOT garbage''
    It's information about-Toyota Hybrid batteries are now being manufactured at plants in China
     
    #27 ski.dive, Jun 20, 2024
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2024
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    It's information about-Toyota Hybrid batteries are now being manufactured at plants in China

    Again, what's the significance of this? I've a pretty good idea of what you're driving at, but it'd be good to get it out in the open.
     
  9. T1 Terry

    T1 Terry Active Member

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    I wonder how long the Toyota Japanese battery builder has been sourcing their modules from China ... and at what stage the only thing actually made in Japan was the sticker ;)
    That has been a trick used here in Australia since the Chinese manufacturing reached 1st world standards. It only improved when the govt change the rules so they had to say, Built from local and imported materials .... but the sticker is still made in Australia and that could be the only Australian part of the whole thing ..... nothing stopping a Japanese company doing the same thing .....

    T1 Terry
     
  10. ski.dive

    ski.dive Active Member

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    Looks like Toyota has been doing it for a while now ..
     
    #30 ski.dive, Jun 21, 2024
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 22, 2024
  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Yep, like most everyone else. If we have been getting them in N/A, they haven’t been a problem