There are several reasons for this including over production of iron ore to maintain market share and an aggressively growing lithium ion battery business which requires cobalt in existing chemistries. (discoveryinvesting.com)
In addition, Toyota and Panasonic will start a feasibility study on a joint automotive prismatic battery business in order to achieve the best automotive prismatic battery in the industry and to ultimately contribute to the popularization of Toyota's and other automakers» electrified vehicles. (greencarcongress.com)
Indeed, A123 struggled to compete in an increasingly crowded battery business, and it didn't offer a radical enough performance improvement over established lithium - ion batteries to immediately win over a fledging hybrid - vehicles market (see «A123's Technology Just Wasn't Good Enough»). (technologyreview.com)