Toyota tames lithium-ion battery technology

Toyota engineers claim to have tamed volatile lithium-ion battery technology, and can now safely pack more power at no significant extra cost, giving the Japanese automaker the option to enter the growing all-electric car market, Reuters reported.

Toyota had concerns over the safety and costs of lithium-battery technology and had held back on its adoption even as Tesla Motors and Nissan Motor Co started adopting lithium-ion battery technology nearly a decade ago.

Lithium-ion batteries are known to be unstable and have been blamed for fire incidents involving Samsung smartphones.

Toyota's endorsement of lithium-ion technology will boost its prospects and give the automaker the option to produce for an all-electric passenger car market, which it had avoided, in favour of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) according to Reuters.

Toyota said its Prius Prime, a soon-to-be-launched plug-in electric version of the world's top-selling gasoline hybrid, would use lithium-ion batteries, with enough energy to make the car go around 60 km (37.3 miles) when fully charged before the gasoline engine took over.

Due to the different methodology in measuring a car's electric mode range, the Prime's 60 km range would be listed in the US as around 25 miles (40.2 km).