Yuasa Motorcycle Batteries

(Reuters) - Japanese electronics conglomerate Toshiba Corp. said it is developing lithium-ion battery with multiple vendors, seeking to take advantage of rising demand for cars more environmentally friendly.

Oil spill in the Gulf

Electronics companies are increasingly partnering with manufacturers to supply battery systems for electric cars and hybrid vehicles with rechargeable battery production forecast to grow five times over the next five years.

Recently, Sanyo Electric, the world's leading manufacturer of batteries, for example, Suzuki Motor added to a list of car manufacturers to whom it provides batteries, while Panasonic Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. produce lithium-ion through a joint venture.

Ryuichi Nakata, 59, head of Toshiba's Intelligent Network, solar and division of the lithium-ion batteries, told Reuters Global Technology Summit that Toshiba is looking for opportunities to scale.

"We're in a phase of development with multiple vendors," said Nakata, a veteran of 34 years, once anchored a Toshiba unit in the United States. "Our strategy is to compete in an open market rather than to do business face-to-one, "he said.

He said he is personally considering changing an electric car from a conventional.

The global economic downturn two years ago prompted Toshiba and other electronics conglomerates to accelerate their movements to reduce their activities and focus more resources on promising growth sectors, such as nuclear power and rechargeable batteries .

The division headed by Nakata is one of the areas that Toshiba plans to focus in the coming years in order to make it a pillar of earnings to help stimulate business growth and time impact the volatility of prices of chips, its flagship products.

Toshiba, which also competes with companies such as GS Yuasa batteries in farm use, is building a new plant in northern Japan.

It plans to begin producing its rechargeable SCiB (Super Charge ion Battery), in February 2011 it has an initial capacity of 500,000 per month and aims to double production in 2012.

Toshiba has received orders from Honda Motor to supply batteries for electric bikes, and said it will supply batteries for electric cars to a car manufacturer unidentified.

It targets sales SCiB 200 billion yen (2.2 billion dollars) in 2015/16.

Toshiba is the first No. 2 worldwide manufacturer of NAND flash memory after Samsung Electronics.

Toshiba shares fell 2.6 percent on Monday, in line with the decline of the sub-index of electrical machines.

More: Toshiba Battery Dell laptop battery Acer laptop battery