Denso wants to standardize hybrid components, make batteries
Japanese automotive supplier Denso wants to expands its business of selling components and systems for hybrid and electric powertrains and sees standardization as a way to get there. Toyota is Denso's largest single largest shareholder with 23 percent of the suppliers stock. Denso has been supplying parts like inverters, sensors and electronic control units for many years. Toyota is far and away the global leader in sales of hybrid vehicles and thus enjoys a cost advantage thanks to economies of scale. By offering components based on the same technology, to other automakers, both Toyota and its competitors can gain a further advantage.
Denso also wants to move beyond these components into the increasingly crowded battery supply market. Denso has reportedly been researching lithium ion battery technology for 15 years, originally with an eye on the consumer electronics market. Now it wants to move that work into the automotive space. That would put it in direct competition with Toyota's own joint venture with Panasonic that makes currently makes all of the batteries for the automakers hybrids.
[Source: Automotive News (subs req'd)]
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