Toshiba Corp. said Wednesday that in anticipation of strong future demand, it would construct its second dedicated production facility for its safe, long-life, rapid charge super charge ion battery (SCiB), in the Kashiwazaki Frontier Park, in Kashiwazaki city, Niigata prefecture. The first factory that is being constructed, is also located in Kashiwazaki.

The total investment in construction and installation of manufacturing equipment will be in the region of ¥25 billion ($274.25 million), and the new facility will have a floor area be approximately 33 000 square meters. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2010, with a completion date of October 2010. In spring 2011, the plant will start to produce SCiB cells and modules for application in battery-powered electric vehicles (EV). The initial capacity of 500 000 cells a month is expected to rise when the automotive application market takes off in fiscal year 2011, allowing the plant to achieve significant cost reductions through mass production.

The company aims to achieve net sales of ¥200 billion ($2.194 billion) from the SCiB business by fiscal year 2015.

SCiB – the super charge ion battery – is Toshiba’s rechargeable battery that offers enhanced safety, long-life and rapid charge. SCiB started to ship in April 2008, and the battery is attracting considerable interest from potential customers. Toshiba currently produces SCiB at Saku Operations in Nagano prefecture.

The market for lithium-ion batteries is expected to see significant demand growth, and to account for a growing share of a lithium-ion battery market scale. Toshiba anticipates strong demand for SCiB, primarily for application in battery-powered electric vehicles (EV), in a range extending from motorcycles to forklifts through to cars, and has decided to establish a second production facility for SCiB.

Toshiba selected Kashiwazaki because of the city's commitment to realizing a low-carbon society by promoting electric vehicles (EV) and attracting EV-related businesses.

Tags: Toshiba, SCiB