Toshiba Battery May Be the Future for Electric-Hybrid Vehicles

Batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles have always had similar knocks against them: They don’t recharge fast enough, they can overheat and catch fire, they don’t hold up long enough. Toshiba took those complaints and attacked each of them and created the Super Charge ion Battery. With this batter, could Toshiba have set a course for the future of the gas-free car? We’ll have to see.

According to Toshiba, the SCiB is a safe, fast-charging battery that can repeat the charge-discharge cycle 5,000 times while retaining its effectiveness. This gives the battery a lifespan of about 10 years, even if it’s used every day. In addition, safety features allow the battery to recharge with a 50 amp current, meaning it can recharge more quickly than a standard battery, reaching 90% of its total charge in as little as five minutes. Toshiba has tested the battery in extreme temperatures, as well, and it has maintained its ability to discharge at temperatures reaching -30 degrees Celsius (about -22 degrees Fahrenheit).

Although Toshiba announced the technology in 2005, it has spent the last two years improving the battery’s thermal stability, controlling the thermal runaway (when the battery becomes dangerously hot), and structuring the body to resist internal short-circuiting. Toshiba says it expects the hard work to pay off in March, when the company ships its first SCiB; it plans to produce up to 150,000 a month and move to mass production by 2010. The batteries could be used in hybrid vehicles, although Toshiba is planning uses beyond hybrids.

Even as the batteries supplement gas-hybrid engines, Toshiba says it plans to continue to develop a high-performance SCiB to serve electric-only cars. In theory, this will extend the range of electric vehicles and should make them more appealing to consumers. Of course, this will all depend upon the battery’s results in its first incarnation, and whether it can live up to high expectations.

The SCiB, as described, sounds like a dream power source. We have to wonder, though, about issues like defects, toxicity and whether or not they will be as safe as advertised (if you recall, not too long ago Sony had to recall a laptop battery that caused explosions). On the other hand, if the SCiB can live up to the hype, expect it to enjoy a long, lucrative future.

Toshiba Launches New Li-Ion Battery Business; Plans to Enter Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Market (Green Car Congress)