Sony is in talks with several automakers both inside and outside of Japan to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles from 2015, expecting a sharp increase in demand, an executive of the electronics company said Tuesday.
"We will consider building factories, including one overseas, if demand becomes full blown," Sony Senior Vice President Shigeki Ishizuka told reporters at a new factory for building battery devices in Motomiya, Fukushima Prefecture.
The company will also consider developing batteries for gasoline-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, Ishizuka said.
The Japanese electronics maker is currently developing a lithium-ion battery with a long life that is resistant to deterioration even when recharged repeatedly.
Ishizuka visited the factory of subsidiary Sony Energy Devices Corp. on the day the company unveiled a new plant building there to manufacture electrodes for lithium-ion batteries to be used in such products as electrical power tools.
