Toyota Will Buy Batteries From Sanyo

Starting in 2011, Toyota will buy batteries for its line-up of hybrids from Sanyo Electric (Reuters).

But what kind of batteries?

If we're talking about lithium-ion battery packs, then we get a good idea about when Toyota is going to start using Li-Ion, and how many they are going to use per year. Toyota is planning on buying 10,000 batteries a year from Sanyo.

Could this be the upper limit on plug-in Prius for 2012?

Or this could just be a way of obtaining more battery packs for their current Prius. Production has been limited by the number of battery packs Panasonic can build right now. Perhaps Toyota is just working on alleviating that issue.

I find the first possibility more plausible than the second.