Toshiba Corp is targeting greater than ten percent in the rechargeable battery market share in five years, with an ambitious eye for a considerable distribution in the surging but extremely competitive sector.
Toshiba’s strategy to help boost the company’s development and weather the impact of volatile costs for chips is focused on the international appetite for batteries to power hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electrical vehicles. Toshiba has made the company one of its focus areas but increasing demand is also making competition fiercer, with Toshiba and its Japanese peers, including current leader Sanyo Electrical Co, NEC and Hitachi, facing South Korea’s LG Chem and other rising rivals around the world.
“We would like to expand our business with the hope of securing a greater than 10 percent share (with the global lithium-ion battery market),” Toshiba chief executive Norio Sasaki stated at a news conference held in Kashiwazaki, northern Japan, to celebrate the completion of its second lithium-ion battery factory.
Toshiba will start out mass-producing its rechargeable SCiB (Super Charge ion Battery) in February 2011 with an initial capability 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. introduced plans to adopt Toshiba’s SCiB for its electrical motorcycles and Mitsubishi Corp is jointly developing battery systems containing the SCiB with Toshiba for electric cars.
Related International Developments
Last week, billionaire Warren Buffett confirmed his support and investment in Chinese automaker BYD Co., announcing the company will be a leader in electrical cars. The carmaker is currently dealing with challenges ahead as it tries to address falling sales, as it slashed its 2010 sales outlook by 25 p.c to 600,000 motor vehicles from 800,000 on Aug. four. The fabled oracle of Omaha reported, “BYD is a young and promising business experiencing dynamic growth. BYD will play a leading role inside the future.” Berkshire Hathaway owns 10 p.c of your automaker by way of MidAmerican Power Holdings, based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The corporation in fact 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 ideas to start out selling the E6 electric car in the U.S. this 12 months and in Europe next yr. The E6 will take six hours for a full charge and will run for greater than 300 kilometers per charge in cruising mode.
BYD is adding electrical vehicles and plug-in hybrids as rivals for instance General Motors and Nissan plan to introduce battery-powered models in China. The nation, the world’s biggest polluter, is offering buyer incentives for fuel-efficient cars to help cut emissions.
In June, the government mentioned it would offer as a lot as $7,400 towards the buy of plug-in hybrid models and up to 60,000 yuan for autos that run only on batteries in 5 Chinese cities on a trial basis. The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner has announced the nation may subsidize purchases of at least four million energy-efficient automobiles by 2012.
Mining News
Galaxy Resources has produced its first lithium concentrate from the Mount Cattlin operation, in Western Australia. On Tuesday the company stated that the production start-up was on schedule and followed the successful commissioning with the crushing circuit and heavy media plant. It's expected the Mount Cattlin mine and minerals plant will produce 137, 000 tonnes per 12 months of 6 % lithium oxide spodumene concentrate, which Galaxy would add value to by building the Jiangsu downstream lithium processing facility, in China. The plant will have the capability to generate 17, 000 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate that's suitable for use in manufacturing battery cathode materials. On Monday, Galaxy announced that it would raise $30 million from Chinese investments, and said that it may possibly list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
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