(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| Matsushita, Sony to Produce Lithium-Polymer Batteries
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February 12, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Matsushita Battery Industrial Co., Ltd.
and Sony Corp. independently said that they will mass produce lithium-polymer
secondary batteries.
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The new batteries will follow the current generation lithium-ion secondary
batteries.
When both of the companies mass produce the batteries it will promote
the new generation of power sources for cellular phones.
Lithium-polymer secondary batteries use a gel-formed electrolyte solution.
Also, they utilize laminated film for sheathing to make them thinner
than lithium-ion batteries with metal cases. The slim look of the new
battery is a major advantage.
Matsushita Battery started making 300,000 batteries a month in January.
Sony will build up its monthly production capacity to 200,000 units
by this summer. At that time, it will commence full-scale production,
and it will raise the capacity to 1 million units a month within the
year.
Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd. reportedly will use the
new products from Matsushita Battery for its cellular phones. When Matsushita
Communication, Japan's top maker of cellular phones, starts using the
products other cellular phone makers will likely shift as well.
Manufacturers of cellular phones want to adopt the lithium-polymer secondary
batteries to make their products even lighter and thus more appealing
to consumers.
Yet there is a limit to reducing a cellular phone handset's width and
length. A certain size is required for ease of use. For this reason,
the next step is slashing the thickness of handsets.
Producers of cellular phones are determined to reduce the weight of the
handsets when thinner batteries are available.
The use of lithium-polymer secondary batteries is not limited to cellular
phones. Larger capacities can be achieved by connecting unit cells,
each of which constitutes a battery. The new lithium-polymer secondary
batteries also can power mobile devices such as personal computers that
require more electricity than mobile phones.
Matsushita's new batteries measure 35mm wide by 62mm long by 3.6mm thick,
while the Sony units measure 35mm wide by 62mm long by 3.8mm. They are
slightly more than 2mm thinner than the lithium-ion batteries now used
for cellular phones, for an approximate 30 percent reduction in thickness.
Related story: Competition
Heats to Reduce Weight of Cellular Phones
(Nikkei
Electronics)
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