Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD <002594.SZ> said on Thursday it has partnered with Toyota-owned truck maker Hino Motors <7205.T> to develop electric commercial vehicles, as BYD deepens electric collaboration with Japan’s top automaker.
The partnership will focus on electric buses and trucks, in addition to BYD and Toyota’s <7203.T> joint development on electric passenger cars.
Shenzhen-based BYD, which is backed by U.S. investor Warren Buffett, has been building electric commercial vehicles including London’s electric double-decker buses and electric road sweepers in Beijing.
Hino has been developing battery electric trucks but so far has yet to bring a fully electric model to market.
In China, Hino makes trucks with Guangzhou-based GAC <601238.SS>, which is also a partner of Toyota.
Toyota, which expects to achieve half of its vehicle sales from electrified models by 2025, has been developing its own electric vehicle batteries and has been tapping new suppliers to avoid a shortfall in supply as demand for electrified vehicles is expected to increase in the coming decades.
(Reporting by Yilei Sun in Beijing and Naomi Tajitsu in Tokyo; editing by Jason Neely)