Competition for Lithium Battery
targeting more than 10 percent of the rechargeable battery market share in five years, with an ambitious eye for a considerable distribution of the surging but highly competitive sector.
Toshiba’s strategy to help boost the company’s growth and weather the impact of volatile prices for chips is focused on the international appetite for batteries to power hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. Toshiba has made the business one of its focus areas but increasing demand is also making competition fiercer, with Toshiba and its Japanese peers, including current leader6 Sanyo Electric Co7 (TYO:67648), NEC and Hitachi, facing South Korea’s LG Chem9 and other rising rivals around the world.
“We would like to expand our business with the hope of securing a more than 10 percent share (of the global lithium-ion battery market),” Toshiba chief executive Norio Sasaki said at a news conference held in Kashiwazaki, northern Japan, to celebrate the completion of its second lithium-ion battery like Toshiba PA3400U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3420U-1BAC Battery, Toshiba PA3420U-1BAS Battery, Toshiba PA3420U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3421U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3450U-1BRS Battery,Toshiba PA3451U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3457U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3465U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3475U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3476U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3478U-1BRS Battery factory.
Toshiba will start mass-producing its rechargeable SCiB (Super Charge ion Battery) in February 2011 with an initial capacity to make 500,000 cells per month and it plans to double that by March 2012. Toshiba manufacturers its SCiB at another facility in central Japan, which has a monthly capacity of 150,000 cells.
In April Honda Motor Co.10 (NYSE:HMC11) announced plans to adopt Toshiba’s SCiB for its electric motorcycles12 and Mitsubishi Corp13 (TYO:805814) is jointly developing battery systems containing the SCiB with Toshiba for electric vehicles.
Last week, billionaire Warren Buffett confirmed his support and investment in Chinese automaker BYD Co15. (HKG: 121116), announcing the company will be a leader in electric cars. The carmaker is currently facing challenges ahead as it tries to address falling sales, as it slashed its 2010 sales outlook by 25 percent to 600,000 vehicles from 800,000 on Aug. 4. The fabled oracle of Omaha said, “BYD is a young and promising company experiencing dynamic growth. BYD will play a leading role in the future.” Berkshire Hathaway owns 10 percent of the automaker through MidAmerican Energy Holdings, based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The company actually began as a battery maker, founded by China’s richest man, Wang Chuanfu, and entered the automobile market in 2003 mass producing the world’s first plug-in hybrid five years later. The carmaker plans to start selling the E6 electric car in the U.S. this year and in Europe next year. The E6 will take six hours for a full charge and will run for more than 300 kilometers per charge in cruising mode.
BYD is adding electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids as rivals such as General Motors17 and Nissan18 plan to introduce battery-powered models in China19. The country, the world’s biggest polluter, is offering buyer incentives for fuel-efficient vehicles to help cut emissions.
In June, the government20 said it would offer as much as $7,400 towards the purchase of plug-in hybrid models and up to 60,000 yuan for vehicles that run only on batteries in five Chinese cities on a trial basis. The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner has announced the country may subsidize purchases of at least 4 million energy-efficient vehicles by 2012.
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