BMW and Toyota announced on Thursday that the two has partnered up to collaborate on the research for cleaner, next-generation car battery in their push for greener technology. There’s mutual gain for both sides on this partnership as Toyota is a leading automaker for its gasoline-electric hybrids, while BMW has always offered ‘clean’ diesel for its cars.
The goal of the collaboration is to fasten the research for a better and cleaner lithium-ion battery that is normally found in electronics and the newly electric hybrids. Not to mention, reducing cost for research and boost for efficiency. BMW has fallen behind on the hybrid technology as the lithium-ion battery is a difficult and expensive process. Toyota, on the other hand, has already had great success with its hybrids that they are allowing BMW to dip into, therefore, BMW has agreed to supply Toyota with diesel engines that play a big part in the European industry.
The reason Toyota hasn’t had much success in Europe is due to the fact that diesel fueled passenger cars are the dominance in Europe, BMW happens to be an European company from Germany that has plenty of clean diesel engines to offer. Under the agreement, BMW will begin supplying Toyota models in Europe with diesel engines in 2014. The exact models is unknown except that it will be for 1.6 liter and 2.0 liter fuel-efficient diesel engines.
Toyota also mentioned that they are planning for electric commercial vehicle use for short range commuting, but the all-electric car talk still seems too far-sighted as the difficulty with driving power and traveling distance.