Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. plans to sell a sodium-ion battery it is working on to makers of electric and hybrid cars, expanding its horizons beyond commercial-vehicle fleet operators.
"Technically, it should be possible," said Mitsuo Nishida, a senior managing director at the Osaka-based company. "We can expect overall sales of the batteries to be boosted because we are now targeting a much big sector of the automotive market."
Sumitomo, which supplies electrical wiring to Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG, said in March it developed a cheaper alternative to lithium-ion batteries that uses liquefied salt as an electrolyte. It aims to begin production of the batteries in 2015 and targets revenue of more than ¥1 trillion. The technology should start producing revenue no later than 2017.