Higher Capacity Battery of Panasonic Corp.
Accord to the words of people who are familiar with the product, Panasonic Corp.has made a lithium- ion battery with 10 percent more capacity than its current model,responding to consumer demand for longer-lasting power sources.
The consumer electronics maker boosted the battery’s capacity to at least 3.4 amperes per hour, according to two people, who asked not to be identified before Panasonic announces the product Dec. 25. The company already makes a 3.1- ampere-per-hour lithium-ion battery for laptop computers.
Panasonic estimates the global market for such batteries will increase fivefold by 2018 as more people seek low-emission vehicles and opt to use mobile electronics like notebook computers. The company bought Sanyo Electric Co., the world’s biggest maker of rechargeable batteries, this month.
It is said that last week it’s mass-producing the 3.1-ampere battery. Panasonic plans to invest 123 billion yen ($1.3 billion) to triple production of lithium-ion batteries in two years,striving to maintain a lead over South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co. and other competitors.
Battery life has grown more important to consumers as mobile devices get more powerful computing functions and personal-computer makers shrink their products, pushing them to look for devices that can run longer without recharges.
Automakers also are shifting to develop electric cars and hybrid plug-in models that use lithium-ion cells, which are lighter and more powerful than nickel-metal hydride batteries currently used in most hybrids.
Panasonic rose 2.6 percent to 1,314 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, extending its gain this year to 18 percent.
Sony Plans
Naoto Noguchi, president of Panasonic’s battery unit,said in an interview this month that Panasonic,based in Osaka,is talking with about 10 automakers to supply the batteries with demand growing.
Sony Corp. also is in talks to supply several companies with lithium-ion car batteries, Executive Deputy President Hiroshi Yoshioka said last month. It will spend 100 billion yen researching and developing rechargeable batteries.