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Toyota called for a press conference 4 hours prior to scheduled start time.

Toyota and Panasonic are teaming up on batteries that Toyota itself and other automakers could use in future electric cars. Rather than building cylindrical batteries like the type that Tesla and other EV makers use, the two companies are exploring the development of "prismatic" cells. Those are square, flat batteries with aluminum housings and are typically used in cell phones. They can be made smaller and lighter than battery packs that use cylindrical cells, but tend to cost more and are vulnerable to overheating and swelling.

Toyota recently unveiled plans, working with Mazda and Suzuki, to launch a new lineup of EVs starting in around 2020.

Toyota and Panasonic won't have to deal with thorny issues like battery chemistry to make better prismatic cells, which are already used on the Bolt and other vehicles. Rather, they'll just have to use their engineering and research chops to refine them so that they're cheaper, safer and more reliable. The payoff could be longer-range,...

By 2030, we aim to have 50 percent or more of our total vehicle sales coming from electric-powered vehicles, such as hybrid, plug-in hybrid, EV and FCV (fuel-cell vehicle)," Toyota President Akio Toyoda said at a news conference.

Toyota eyes major boost in electric-powered vehicles - Japan Today

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