Toyota and BMW Partner in Environmental Technology

By News Release | January 30, 2013

Toyota and BMW Partner in Environmental Technology

Toyota Motor Corp. and BMW Group are forming a partnership in the field of environmental technologies, such as fuel cell vehicle systems.

Toyota Vice Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada and Herbert Diess, a member of BMW’s board of management, announced the collaboration at a news conference in central Japan. Specifically, the major Japanese and German automakers will work together to help expand the use of fuel cell vehicles, which run on electricity produced by a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. They emit no carbon oxide, the main culprit of global warming.

Toyota is ahead in the field, leasing fuel cell vehicles mainly to local governments. Under the partnership, Toyota and BMW plan to share fuel cell vehicle development costs as they look toward mass production. Uchiyamada emphasized that the two companies will speed up work to promote fuel cell vehicles by combining their know-how.

In addition, Toyota and BMW will aim to jointly develop large-capacity lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles. The two companies teamed up in 2011 for joint research on next-generation battery technologies. In June of last year, they agreed to cooperate in the field of green technologies for automobiles. [hr]

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