Home

Car manufacturer Volkswagen and electronics giant Toshiba have signed a letter of intent to cooperate on the development of electric vehicles.

The two companies will work on electric drive units and power electronics for Volkswagen’s planned small family electric cars.

“Volkswagen is forging ahead with the development of future drive technologies in many different areas,” says chairman of the board, Martin Winterkorn.

“I am convinced that this will be a major step forward towards the development of series production electric vehicles for our customers.”

Volkswagen and Toshiba will also look at high energy next generation batteries for electric vehicles based on lithium-ion technology.

Winterkorn says that Volkswagen aims to be the first manufacturer to produce an emissions-free, affordable and safe large-scale production electric vehicle.

He adds, however, that: “A considerable amount of research and development work still has to be carried out until we can produce the electric vehicle.”

For further information:
www.volkswagen.com/vwcms/international_portal/virtualmaster/en.html
www.toshiba.co.jp/worldwide/index.html