Till the year 2006 German car maker Volkswagen (VW) had been consistent in its decision of not entering the hybrid car segment.Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder, chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen, went as far as to say “We are not interested in making cars which don’t make money.”However increasing demand for green products seems to have forced VW a rethink on its strategy. (VW) is partnering with Japanese based Sanyo Electric, to manufacture lithium ion batteries.These batteries are widely used in a variety of electronic goods such as laptops and also present a attractive alternative to metal hydride batteries,particularly for hybrid cars on account of their high energy density as compared to hydride batteries.Under this partnership,Sanyo aims to produce 15000 -20000 batteries by 2009 and also planned to invest nearly $769 million to expand production capacity by the year 2015.
