Has Toyota delayed new Priuses? Is cobalt to blame?
 

*Source: News Blog (News.com) (http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-975...547-1_3-0-20)*
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Bob Kanode, the CEO of Valence Technology, which makes lithium-ion batteries for vehicles, recently said one of the big issues for the electric car world was going to be cobalt versus phosphate. And he may be right.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has reported that Toyota has delayed a new generation of hybrid vehicles (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1186...us_bu siness), including a new Prius, because of concerns about safety and reliability of the batteries inside them. These batteries are lithium cobalt oxide batteries, the same chemistry used in laptop lithium batteries. (Currently, Toyota hybrids use nickel metal hydride batteries.)

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