Battery manufacturer picks Northville for HQ
A vacant building near Five Mile and Beck roads in Northville Township is expected to get a high-tech tenant this year that will bring as many 279 jobs.
TSC Michigan Inc., a subsidiary of a South Korean company founded in 1986, has selected the location at 47050 Five Mile Road for its North American headquarters, according to the company and Northville Township officials.
Chief Executive Officer Allen Ibara said the building will serve as a research and development facility for lithium ion battery electrolytes for use in electric and hybrid vehicle batteries. He expects the company to begin operations at the site by the fourth quarter of this year.
Ibara said the property was selected because of its proximity to potential customers in the auto industry and to M-14.
Under an agreement with the township, the company would be taxed at half the normal rate on the property, formerly home of Optical Imaging Systems, for five years. Ibara said the company would invest $31 million, which includes the purchase price of the property, during that time.
"We were very interested in getting somebody in there," said Jennifer Frey, the township's director of Community Development. "We're very proud to have them in the community."
Sanyo have Sell Car Battery to some Clients
A Sanyo Electric Co. executive in charge of the company's battery unit said its promising car battery business will remain largely independent from that of parent Panasonic Corp., since Panasonic's close ties to Toyota Motor Corp. may make it difficult for Sanyo to keep other auto makers as customers, due to competitive reasons.
In December, Panasonic spent about 400 billion yen, roughly $4.43 billion, to acquire a majority stake in Sanyo with an eye toward building a green energy business that incorporates the smaller electronics maker's car battery and solar panel units.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Mitsuru Honma, executive vice president of Sanyo Electric, gives a lecture during the Tokyo International Automotive Conference in Tokyo last year.
Panasonic holds slightly less than 20% of a battery joint venture with Toyota, called Panasonic EV Energy. Panasonic EV Energy doesn't sell its batteries to other car companies. But Sanyo has stood by its plan to sell to multiple auto makers, saying it's the easiest way to gain scale and establish a de-facto standard in a new industry.
Panasonic has yet to detail plans for how the two companies will reconcile divergent business strategies to supply lithium-ion batteries used in hybrid and electric vehicles.
"Panasonic thinks it is fine for Sanyo to stick to the current policy of selling batteries to all possible clients," said Executive Vice President Mitsuru Homma, who heads Sanyo's profitable battery business, speaking in an interview. "We won't risk losing our existing clients."
Sanyo, the world's largest maker of rechargeable batteries by market share, currently supplies nickel-metal hydride car batteries for current-generation of hybrid vehicles offered by auto makers such as Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co.
Lithium-ion battery technology is expected to power the next-generation of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. Mr. Homma says the car lithium ion battery market is almost non-existent now but should grow to about 1 trillion yen in 2015 and double to 2 trillion yen in 2020.
A Panasonic spokesman declined to comment, saying the company is still in discussion about integration plans. Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo is expected to unveil a detailed strategy for its green energy business in May.
One of the main hurdles to mass production of car lithium ion batteries is high prices, which will gradually decline as development costs phase out.
Lithium ion batteries are now used mostly for consumer electronics products, such as cellphones, computers, digital cameras and other portable gadgets. Mr. Homma said he expects the market for lithium ion batteries for consumer electronics to top 1 trillion yen by 2015, from the current range of 800 billion yen to 900 billion yen. Sanyo and Panasonic are aiming to grab a combined revenue market share of about 40%-45% by 2015, up from a combined share of about 35% now.
Mr. Homma acknowledges this won't be easy with South Korea's Samsung SDI Co. gaining ground technologically. Samsung also has been helped in part by a weaker won.
"SDI is the biggest threat right now," said Mr. Homma.
Sanyo has started looking at how best to approach the potentially huge Chinese car battery market. Unlike other Japanese electronics companies that intend to partner with a Japanese auto maker to enter the Chinese market, Sanyo may consider teaming up with Chinese auto makers to beef up its local presence, Mr. Homma said.
"We have to act early in China, or we will miss out on the opportunity when the market emerges," said Mr. Homma, predicting that the Chinese market could account for between a third to a half of as many as 20 million electric vehicles sold world-wide in 2020
Warning over battery bubble for hybrid cars
A costly technology bubble is forming around the lithium-ion batteries that will power a forthcoming wave of electric and rechargeable hybrid cars, a leading industry consultancy warned.
Battery producers now building factories in the US, Asia and Europe – some with generous government subsidies – will by 2015 “conservatively” end up with twice the capacity they need to supply plug-in cars, said Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Italian company launches first hybrid scooter - Jul-08Honda hybrid outsells in Japan - May-11Lex: US hybrid car hiatus - Jan-12Portugal’s electric car deal leads way - Nov-23Toyota and EDF power up for plug-in cars - Sep-11Honda revives Insight to challenge Prius - Sep-04The capacity glut will result in a shake-out of battery producers, according to the group, which claims that just six to eight of the 20 or so global players will survive the next five to seven years.
It warned of “massive investment risks”.
“It’s a little bit like some of the internet hype,” said Wolfgang Bernhart, a partner with Roland Berger, who wrote the report. “At the end of the day, there will be only a few companies that can make it.”
An oversupply of battery facilities would mirror the chronic problems of underused plants among carmakers themselves, exposing the nascent industry to the same downward pressure on prices and profits as their customers.
The research contrasts with many analysts’ bullishness about the battery industry, which Deutsche Bank recently forecast could have sales worth $66bn by 2020.
Many battery producers’ share prices have surged over the past year on expectations that they would grow rapidly and struggle to keep up with demand.
It will add further to the uncertainty surrounding plug-in cars among carmakers developing them during a severe industry downturn and governments that have devoted huge sums to vehicle electrification.
In the US, President Barack Obama’s administration last year earmarked $2bn of stimulus money for the development of advanced batteries.
In Europe, Britain and Portugal have offered Nissan loans and grants of unspecified size for battery plants to supply its forthcoming Leaf electric car.
The US and Europe have also prodded their carmakers to develop more plug-in models by favouring low-emission technology in the billions of dollars of low- interest loans extended to the sector since the crisis began in late 2008.
All of the world’s big carmakers, including BMW, Daimler, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Toyota, Honda, General Motors and Ford Motor, plan to launch electric or rechargeable cars this decade, in spite of uncertainty about demand.
Brief Evacuation of Battery Odors
Odors from an overcharged battery forced the brief evacuation Monday of the Cache Valley Mall.
Mall maintenance workers called 911 at about 8 a.m., after they had arrived at work and smelled a strange odor, said Logan Fire Marshal Craig Humphreys.
Logan firefighters and police, joined by members of the Cache Valley hazmat team, cleared the mall of all employees. Community members who walk the mall for their morning exercise also were evacuated, Humphreys said.
One mall employee was examined by medical personnel at the scene and released, he said.
Crews entered the mall and located the source of the smell: an overcharged 6-volt battery that powers a piece of janitorial equipment. They cleared the fumes, Humphreys said, and reopened the mall at about 11 a.m.
Rechargeable Batteries are Recalled,due to the Risks of Fires and Burns
Because of the risks of fires and burns to users,about 8,600 rechargeable batteries sold with wireless touch panels for audio/visual systems are being recalled.
The batteries were sold with MVP 5000 Series Wireless Touch Panels made by AMX of Richardson,Texas.A defect in the battery can cause the battery pack to overheat and rupture, posing a risk of fire and burns to people using the devices.
There have been no reports of incidents or injuries associated with the faulty batteries inside the wireless touch panels,the Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
The recall involves AMX 5000 series (MVP-5100, MVP-5150, MVP-5200i) wireless touch panels.The model number can be found on a label on the back of the unit, the CPSC said.
The recalled rechargeable batteries are used in touch panels which act as remote controls for residential or commercial audio/visual systems. AMX 5000 series touch panels are available in black or white and include a 5.2” wide screen color LCD display. The touch panel’s dimensions are 4 3/4” x 7 9/16” x 13/16”.
The batteries and touch panels were sold by AMX dealers nationwide from May 2008 through October 2009 for between $2,400 and $4,200. They were manufactured in the United States and Mexico, officials said.
The CPSC is advising consumers to immediately stop using the touch panels and contact AMX for instructions on how to receive a replacement battery at no cost.