Toshiba Corporation today announced plans to construct a new dedicated production facility for its safe, long-life rapid charge SCiB battery, in anticipation of strong future demand. By setting up a second production facility Toshiba expects to position itself for a surge in demand for SCiB for industrial and automotive applications from fiscal year 2010 on. Toshiba aims to start construction of the new facility in the fall of 2009, and to start production in fall 2010.
SCiB--the Super Charge ion Battery--is Toshibas breakthrough rechargeable battery that offers excellent safety, long-life and rapid charge. SCiB started to ship in April 2008, and the battery is attracting considerable interest from potential customers. Toshiba currently produces SCiB at Saku Operations in Nagano prefecture.
Toshiba has selected Kashiwazaki city in Niigata prefecture, north-west Japan, as the primary candidate for the new production site. Kashiwazaki seeks to realize a low-carbon society by promoting electric vehicles (EV) and to attract EV-related businesses. The city has applied for recognition as a model area for the "EV and plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV) town concept," which is promoted by Japans Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to encourage adoption of EV and PHV. Toshiba found Kashiwazakis approach consistent with its own goals in the SCiB business, and was also attracted by the citys subsidy program.
Details on the definitive site location and construction schedule will be decided from now, on the strength of market trends.
The market for lithium-ion batteries for industrial and automotive applications is expected to see significant demand growth from fiscal year 2010 on, and to contribute a growing share to a lithium-ion battery market that is expected to reach sales of 1.7 trillion yen (approximately US$19 billion) worldwide in fiscal year 2015. Toshiba aims to make SCiB a mainstay of its industrial systems and automotive products businesses worldwide.
SCiB Major Characteristics
1. Excellent safety
SCiB adopts a new negative-electrode material that offers a high level of thermal stability and a high flash point electrolyte, and has a structure resistant to internal short circuiting and thermal runaway. The possibility of rupture or combustion is very low.
2. Long cycle life
Capacity loss after 3,000 cycles of rapid charge and discharge is less than 10%. SCiB has an excellent long cycle life, and is able to repeat the charge-discharge cycle over 6,000 times. This means that the SCiB can be continuously used for more than 10 years with a once-a-day recharge-discharge cycle.
3. Rapidly rechargeable
The superb safety characteristics of SCiB allow recharge with a current as large as 50 amperes (A), allowing the SCiB Cell and SCiB Battery Module to recharge to 90% of full capacity in only five minutes(*).
(*) Five minutes is the recharge performance of the SCiB TBP Series Module. Actual recharge times are defined by the products into which SCiB is integrated and on the peripheral components used with SCiB.
4. High power (practical capacity)
SCiB has an input-output performance equivalent to that of an electric double layer capacitor. This feature is suited to high power applications.
5. Temperature
SCiB operates well in temperature extremes, with sufficient discharge at temperatures as low as -30°C. This characteristic also assures wide application in cold climates.
The SCiB is housed in an SCiB Battery Module comprising ten 4.2 ampere-hour (Ah) SCiB cells aligned in series connection, plus a battery management system.
Source:
Toshiba
