Toyota Building a Car to Test Tesla’s Battery

One of the many unknowns about Toyota’s partnership with Tesla was whether it would result in a jointly produced car.
That won’t be known for many months yet, but Toyota has already taken a first step: It’s building Tesla’s battery into a test car so it can compare the Silicon Valley startup’s technology to its own lithium-ion pack.
Toyota is building an electric vehicle with a Tesla battery pack.
The Japanese company’s in-house lithium-ion pack uses fewer, larger-format cells than the 6,831 commodity cells (essentially like mobile-phone batteries) that Tesla uses in the battery pack fitted to its 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5.
Toyota’s cells are specifically designed for automotive use, but the company may feel it’s a bit behind the curve in lithium-ion adoption. The all-new 2010 Toyota Prius was meant to have a lithium-ion pack, rather than the carryover nickel-metal-hydride technology it’s used since 1997.
But Toyota bet on the wrong battery chemistry, meaning it had to start from scratch. And now it clearly wants to see whether the very different Tesla Motors approach could be used in a lower-cost, higher-volume vehicle.
Most analysts have concluded that the Tesla approach is simply too complex to be cost-effective when scaled up for mass production. The basic message: It’s fine for low volumes of $109,000 Roadsters, but too costly for Corollas.
As Autoblog Green notes, test vehicles like the one Toyota is now building–known as ‘mules’ for their sometimes unpredictable behavior–may never be seen by the public.
Instead, they may spend a short, hard life being pounded around a test track or running for hours on dynamometers to give test engineers all the data they can wring out, before the hapless car is finally dismantled or crushed.

LG unveils two Android smartphones

South Korea-based LG has expanded its Android-based smartphone portfolio, with the unveiling of two new smartphones.

While one of the Android phones is called `Optimus One with Google’, the second handset is called Optimus Chic. Both smartphones, Optimus One and Optimus Chic, will be launched with Android 2.2 also known as 'Froyo'.

Optimus smartphones will reportedly boast of HD video playback/recording. One of these smartphones will be based on Texas Instrument's OMAP3630 processor.

According to the company, “LG Optimus Chic caters to fashion aficionados with its tasteful design incorporating soft and smooth lines. The handset's sleek curves set a new standard for smartphone design, challenging the perception that advanced Android devices need to appeal to a hardcore tech crowd to gain widespread acceptance.”

The company, however, did not specify whether Optimus One is a 'Google experience' phone, which means a device that receives over-the-air firmware updates from Google itself.

The company said that that it will introduce approximately 10 new Optimus `smart devices' in the second half of 2010, ranging from entry to premium level. LG is also expected to launch a Windows Phone 7 mobile OS based smartphone by the end of this year.

Nokia says no to Google Android

 Nokia is committed to get back the No.1 position in smartphones and plans to use no other software than Symbian and Linux MeeGo, head of its mobile solutions unit said.

"It's my aim to ensure Nokia stays as the market and intellectual leader in creating the digital world," Anssi Vanjoki wrote in a blog on Nokia's website.

"Symbian and MeeGo are the best software for our smartest devices. As such, we have no plans to use any other software," he said, adding "there are no plans to introduce an Android device from Nokia".

He added, "There is no denying, that as a challenger now, we have a fight on our hands. The first battle is to bring you products and services you will want to own and use."

The world's top cellphone maker warned in mid-June second-quarter sales and profits at its key phones unit would be weaker than expected as it struggles to compete against Apple's iPhone. Nokia also said 2010 profit margin at the phone business would be weaker.

Vanjoki noted it would be a tough task to make Nokia the leader in smartphones again, but added the company has all the assets "to produce killer smartphones and market-changing mobile computers".

"Symbian and MeeGo are the best software for our smartest devices. As such, we have no plans to use any other software," he said, adding "there are no plans to introduce an Android device from Nokia.”

Hewlett-Packard and Dell Avoid Big PC Party

Hewlett-Packard and Dell keep missing the introduction of computing revolutions.

Two years ago, Asustek unveiled the first netbook here at the Computex computer industry tradeshow in Taipei. The little, cheap laptops have proved the PC industry’s savior during the recession, keeping shipments going while interest in bigger laptops and PCs wanes.

Both H.P. and Dell were late to the netbook party, and, as a result, they’ve watched as Taiwanese rivals Acer and Asustek have grabbed the majority of the market.

This year, companies like Lenovo, Acer and Asustek have hit Computex with their guns blazing, dishing out thin and light laptops that will sell for well under $600. The major PC contract manufacturers like Foxconn, Compal and Winstron have shown off even more radical machines with ARM chips that boast 18 hour battery life and weigh next to nothing. Then, there’s all the touch-screen devices, smart photo frames and video conferencing systems.

As it turns out, neither H.P. nor Dell has a formal presence at Computex. They’re watching the show from afar, while even their close partners like Intel and Microsoft reveal new products and buddy up with the Taiwanese powers.

It’s an odd approach for the two biggest players in the United States, especially when you consider their interest in making more headway in the Chinese market. Chinese suppliers and customers have flocked to Computex, and they’re forming tighter relationships with companies like Acer and Asustek.

On the product side, H.P and Dell can perhaps afford to play catch-up.

Michael Rayfield, the general manager of Nvidia’s mobile business unit, points out that the large PC makers let the likes of Foxconn and Winstron create a variety of new devices first to discover what works in the market.

In that sense, the Taiwanese manufactures serve as market makers, and companies like H.P and Dell swoop in with their prominent brands when the time is right.

So, missing out on the Computex glitz has had a minimal cost in the big scheme of things.

On the relationship side, it’s less clear how H.P. and Dell’s absence from the show will play out.

CeBit’s attendance hit the lowest level in a decade when it was held this March with the number of exhibitors declining by 26 percent. Meanwhile, at Computex, the number of exhibitors held steady despite the recession.

In addition, Intel executives told me that Computex tended to attract more Asian reporters than any other show, leading to packed press conferences with hundreds of reporters. The scribes, of course, fill the Asian publications with word of the latest PCs, and H.P. and Dell fail to capture much of that buzz.

There are some booths here with software makers using H.P and Dell computers to show off their latest products. I imagine, however, that both companies will end up buying into Computex in the near future, as the event morphs from a component smorgasbord to the real showcase for the next waves of computing.