Toshiba Announces New Battery Plant to Boost Profits From EV, Hybrid Boom
By John O'Dell October 28, 2009
Anticipating a boom in rechargable electric vehicles, Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp. said today that it will build a second lithium-ion battery factory in Japan, with capacity for as many as 6 million hybrid and EV battery cells a year. A single vehicle can use hundreds of cells.
Toshiba's rapid-charging SCiB batteries use a lithium-titanium oxide chemistry that, the company says, makes them more stable and less prone to overheating than other types of lithium batteries.
The company said it will invest up to 215 billion yen ($274 million) in the new factory, which is scheduled to be built next year with battery manufacturing to begin in the spring of 2011.
When both Toshiba battery plants are in operation, the company said, it expects annual sales of the battery cells to top 200 billion yen ($250 million).
In addition to building its own batteries for sale on the open market, Toshiba presently has a battery-making alliance with Volkswagen.It has just begun construction of its first SCiB plant.
The Japanese government has been heavily promoting development and use of advanced technology vehicles and Japan's battery makers are anticipating a big burst of business.
Others in the EV and hybrid battery business include Panasonic EV Energy Co. (partnered with Toyota), NEC Corp. (partnered with Nissan) and Sanyo Electric (Volkswagen, Honda,Ford, Toyota).
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