With gas prices rising unpredictably these days and auto sales plunging because of it, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe states the auto industry has no choice but moving beyond petroleum by manufacturing cleaner, more efficient cars. Toyota, the world’s leading producer of hybrids, plans to introduce a plug-in hybrid in 2010 that powered by lithium-ion batteries but the next generation Prius, due next year, will be using the NiMH batteries only. Meanwhile, Toyota is partnering with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. to develop batteries that will outperform the lithium-ion batteries for making every single car hybrid in its line-up between 2020 and 2029. Ambitious!

[via WIRED]

This post is tagged Hybrid, Toyota