Toyota teams up with BYD

Japanese automaker Toyota said on Friday it is to develop electric vehicles and batteries with Chinese carmaker BYD and launch related products in the Chinese market before 2025.

In a joint statement, the companies said they would develop sedans and sport-utility vehicles to be sold under the Toyota brand. 

They also said they hoped to join forces in order to slow down the pace of global warming, reduce CO2 emissions and further popularize electric vehicles.

In the future they will combine their technologies and development capabilities in electric vehicles and batteries to develop more attractive cars for their customers.

Earlier this week, Toyota announced it was teaming up with China's Contemporary Amerex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) to supply and develop batteries for lower-emission vehicles.

Toyota and CATL are to explore a wide range of fields including the development of battery system technologies, improvements to the quality of current cell technology and battery recycling.

Toyota has already announced a plan to have more than 10 electric vehicles available worldwide by the first half of the 2020s, starting with a rollout in China in 2020. 

Reuters reported that Toyota had flagged in June that it aimed to get half of its global sales from electric vehicles, including gasoline hybrids, by 2025, five years ahead of schedule. In order to meet this timeline, Toyota would need more batteries than expected, prompting it to look beyond Panasonic Corp, its long-time partner in battery development, to secure supplies.