They have to or China's battery and car makers will crush Japan's auto industry.<p>Look at the numbers outside the US. Only 10% of US new cars are electric, but worldwide, 20% are. Most of those are from China, and they're cheap.
$2.4bn over 4 companies + panasonic and 12 projects isn't a huge amount, relatively speaking. And I imagine Hydrogen is also still being pushed.<p>EVERYONE knew China was coming, it was long clear that China saw the changeover from ICE to EV as an opportunity to become a dominant player.<p>Chinese companies are setting up local brands for different countries: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74jgk1kw87o" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74jgk1kw87o</a> and making cars that appeal to western tastes.<p>Japan's main problem is that they are stubborn - the Koreans and Chinese bought in european designers and made cars look to Western tastes. Japanese cars look like Japanese cars.
Japan made a fatal mistake wasting so much effort on hydrogen cars. Yet Tesla leaped forward with Panasonic's battery technology It's ironic.
Compare that to Germany <a href="https://www.electrive.com/2024/09/09/its-now-official-germany-to-stop-funding-battery-research/" rel="nofollow">https://www.electrive.com/2024/09/09/its-now-official-german...</a>