Reuters reported on Tuesday that BMW and Toyota will form a partnership to develop lighter and less expensive lithium-ion batteries for EVs

Reuters reported on Tuesday that BMW and Toyota will form a partnership to develop lighter and less expensive lithium-ion batteries for EVs, with an official announcement expected at this week’s Tokyo Motor Show.

EV manufacturers seem to agree that a better battery is the big banana. Only by drastically improving battery performance will EVs attain the lower prices and better range that will allow them to pull the plug on the internal combustion era. So it’s no surprise that even rival companies are gladly working together in an attempt to share the massive R&D costs. Toyota is already part of a web of partnerships with companies such as Tesla, Microsoft and Ford.

In a separate deal, BMW may also provide their Japanese colleagues with diesel engines in exchange for access to Toyota’s hybrid technology. BMW already has a project going with Peugeot-Citroen to work together on hybrid systems.

Image: BMW