Safer laptop batteries produced
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Matsushita boosts production of heatproof batteries for laptops following worries about overheating.
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WASHINGTON -- Some 526,000 batteries used in ThinkPad notebook computers worldwide are being recalled in the latest problem with batteries made by Sony Corp., the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
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Toshiba is recalling 5,100 laptop batteries sold around the world after three instances of the batteries catching fire, two in Japan and one in Australia. Affected batteries were manufactured by Sony in December 2005 for Toshiba's Dynabook, Dynabook Satellite, Satellite and Tecra lines.
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Fujitsu is the latest laptop maker to issue a recall because of a defective battery. This one affected 287,000 laptops that use Sony batteries.
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The batteries purchased as a ThinkPad upgrade may overheat when the laptop is dropped, product safety commission says.
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IBM Corp. is recalling 526,000 laptop batteries worldwide made by Sony Corp., the latest in a series of problems with Sony batteries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
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Hitachi Ltd. 6501.T said on Friday it   will recall 16,000 batteries made by Sony Corp. 6758.T for   laptop computers, joining a growing list of PC makers recalling   Sony batteries.
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WASHINGTON -- IBM Corp. is recalling 526,000 laptop batteries worldwide made by Sony Corp., the latest in a series of problems with Sony batteries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
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The replacement of a thin plastic resin insulating layer, or polyolefin, with a new and undisclosed heat resistance layer, could prevent future incidents of lithium-ion batteries spontaneously catching fire. From the battery producing arm of Matsushita, Panasonic's parent company, which claims it's now ready to begin producing batteries with the new insulator.
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Updated safety standards for laptop batteries should be in place within the next 12 months, a working group says.
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(InfoWorld) - NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi Electric are planning to replace around 1.3 million batteries manufactured by Sanyo Electric because they may overheat and catch fire, the companies said Thursday. The batteries were manufactured before June of this year and are used in NTT DoCoMo's D902i handset. Some may have also been used in two other models of Mitsubishi Electric phone, the D902iS and D903iS, the companies said. The batteries carry the model number "D06." "In rare cases there is a slight deformation of the electrode plate which causes it to come into contact with the insulation sheet and hence the insulation sheet can become damaged," said Richard Sedgwick, a spokesman for Sanyo in Tokyo. "If the battery was also damaged through an outside side, for example if the user dropped the battery, then the problem could occur." NTT DoCoMo said it has confirmed one case of the battery rupturing because of the problem and knows of 17 other cases where the D06 battery has ruptured or overheated. The carrier said the battery had been subject to an "extremely strong impact" in a number of the cases. Sanyo said it began examining ways of strengthening the electrode in April this year as a precautionary measure against possible problems, but at the time had not heard any reports about actual problems. Batteries with stronger plating on the electrode began rolling off the company's production line in June, hence Thursday's advisory only concerns batteries manufactured until May. The problem brings back memories ofÂ Sony's battery problemsÂ of earlier this year. Around 9.6 million Sony-manufactured laptop computer batteries were recalled or voluntarily replaced by many laptop PC vendors after batteries in several PCs overheated and caught fire. The problem was traced back to metal particles that had gotten into the battery during manufacturing. Sony estimated the problems will cost it around Â¥51 billion ($444 million) this financial year. Sanyo said that it has yet to work out with NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi Electric the part it will play in the replacement. Sanyo and Sony are two of the world's largest manufacturers of Lithium Ion batteries. Â ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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Battery making startup Boston Power is more than tripling production of its&#160;Sonata laptop battery, a device that offers faster charging and longer life than conventional lithium-ion batteries, it is due to announce Thursday.Boston Power has also struck a manufacturing partnership with Taiwan&#39;s GP Batteries, which will begin making the cells to supplement current production at China&#39;s HYB Battery. GP will produce around 1 million cells per month, said Christina Lampe-Onnerud, founder and CEO of Boston Power. HYB currently produces between one third and one half that amount, she said.The Sonata battery was a hit when it was unveiled at the Demo 2007 conference in January 2007 because, according to Boston-Power, it gets over some of the main frustrations laptop users have with their battery packs. Namely it can be charged to 80 percent of total capacity in 30 minutes so even on a short lay-over a meaningful amount of power can be recharged into the battery and it should also last the average three years that people keep their laptops without a noticeable degradation in performance.In light of a series of high-profile problems and recalls of lithium-ion batteries, Boston-Power is also pushing safety. It says its Sonata battery uses less reactive chemicals and has a series of protective controls that make it safer than competing batteries.With the extra production, Boston-Power will be looking to pick up customers for the Sonata batteries. It has already been working closely with Hewlett-Packard.&quot;We are delighted with the response from the market. Interest is really, really large&quot; said Lampe-Onnerud. &quot;We have worked with top-tier notebook makers for several years and they remain extremely engaged. Many have already qualified our system but we&#39;re a small company so we have to be selective about who we work with.&quot;Boston-Power has also closed a third round of financing for $45 million, which it will announce Thursday. The round, led by Oak Investment Partners, also included additional money from existing investors Venrock Associates, Granite Global Ventures and Gabriel Venture Partners. The latest investment brings to $68 million the total amount of funds raised by Boston-Power.&#160;
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Lenovo is recalling approximately 205,000 lithium-ion batteries used worldwide in ThinkPad laptops, however this time Sony isn't the culprit. The batteries in this recall were produced by Sanyo.
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Is that a barbecue in your lap or... When laptop batteries aren't bursting into white-hot flames, incinerating loved-ones, treasured possessions and airline luggage compartments in a ball of fiery plasma â they're right useful products.â¦
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Toshiba Corp. 6502.T said on Tuesday it   would replace about 340,000 laptop computer batteries made by   Sony Corp. 6758.T worldwide, the latest in a string of Sony   battery woes.
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In conjunction with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, both IBM and Lenovo announced that they were calling for the voluntary recall of approximately 526,000 laptop batteries manufactured by Sony.
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Apple announced a recall of some 28,000 lithium-ion rechargeable batteries used in the 15-inch model of its PowerBook G4 laptops. The computer maker said the batteries could overheat, creating a fire hazard. They will be replaced at no ...