Electric car startup Tesla Motors signed a memorandum of understanding with Toyota to deliver two electric car prototypes to the world’s largest auto maker by the end of month.
Earlier on Friday, Toyota President Akio Toyoda told reporters in Japan Toyota was interested in experimenting with Tesla’s approach of using lithium-ion battery cells developed for the electronics industry as a potential alternative to developing batteries tailor-made for its own vehicles.
The project with Tesla is separate from a previously announced electric car Toyota plans to sell by 2012, Toyoda said. Toyota has said it’s working on a two-passenger “urban commuter” electric car that will likely have range of 50 miles or less per charge.
Toyota struck a partnership with Tesla in May, in which it sold Tesla a factory in California and invested $50 million in the electric car maker, which went public earlier this month.
“Since our announcement in May, Toyota and Tesla engineering teams have made a lot of progress in a short amount of time, and it is exciting to start seeing some initial results,” JB Straubel, Tesla’s chief technology officer said in an e-mail message.
Tesla has signed an agreement to deliver two prototypes to Toyota by the end of July. Both prototypes are modified Toyota vehicles.
[source: CNN via Pure Green Cars]
