中心议题：
* 东芝进入电动汽车动力电池组供应阵营
日本老牌电子产品制造商东芝已与三菱电机公司达成开发协议，进入新兴的电动汽车动力电池组业务市场。
对于一直在做笔记本电脑和手机电池的东芝公司来说，这是第一个与主要汽车制造商达成的电动汽车动力电池组交易，东芝发言人Ken Shinjo表示。另据东芝公司透露，东芝已在日本北方城市新滹市的新生产线上启动了电动汽车动力电池组的批量生产。
该工厂的月产能到2012年3月有望增长到一百万单节可充电电池，Shinjo说。这些电池还可用于生态型“智能电网”中的电能存储。
由于对全球变暖和污染的关注，人们对绿色汽车的兴趣愈加浓厚，并在电子产品制造商以及混合动力、插电式汽车和纯电动汽车制造商之间引发了激烈的竞争。电子产品制造商们认为这是超越竞争对手的一次机会，因为目前为止只有少数几家电池制造商掌握动力电池技术，并能向汽车制造商供货。但汽车制造商也希望通过电子产品制造商之间的竞争将成本降下来。
东芝的本土竞争对手松下已经在向全球顶级汽车制造商丰田汽车公司提供动力电池组，而NEC公司也在向日产汽车公司供应动力电池组。作为松下子公司的三洋电气公司则与大众汽车、本田汽车公司和丰田汽车公司有生意往来。
Shinjo表示，东芝还在与其它汽车制造商洽谈，不过没有透露公司名字。东芝的锂离子电池名称为SCiB，具有安全、可重复充电和长寿命特点，东芝指出。
三菱已经开始销售日本首款针对大众市场的电动汽车——四座泡泡形i-MiEV，公司表示还未决定是否在其中某款电动汽车中使用东芝电池，但两家公司正在一起开发某款电池。
三菱目前使用的电池来自与日本电池制造商GS Yuasa公司成立的合资企业，但三菱希望进一步扩大电动汽车中的动力电池产品阵容，发言人Tetsuji Inoue表示。
日产已经获得了2万份Leaf电动汽车定单，并已在美国和日本上市销售，发言人Mitsuru Yonekawa透露。
Toshiba to develop batteries for electric vehicles
[member]
Toshiba to develop batteries for electric vehicles
Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. said Friday it’s jumping into the battery business for electric vehicles in a development deal with Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
It’s the first EV battery deal with a major automaker for Toshiba, which already makes batteries for laptops and cell phones, said company spokesman Ken Shinjo. Production will start sometime next year, in a new facility in Niigata, northern Japan, according to Toshiba.
The plant’s production capacity is expected to grow to a million cells — the unit for counting rechargeable batteries — a month by March 2012, said Shinjo. Batteries may also be used for power storage in ecological “smart grids.”
Green vehicles are drawing interest because of concerns about global warming and pollution, setting off a competition among electronics makers — as well as automakers — in hybrids, plug-ins and electric vehicles.
The Japanese so far have a head start in supplying such batteries. They say they see that as a chance for an edge over rivals because only a handful of battery makers have the technology so far to supply automakers.
But automakers can also hope to play the electronics makers against each other to bring down costs.
Toshiba’s Japanese rival Panasonic Corp. supplies batteries for Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s top automaker, while NEC Corp. does it for Nissan Motor Co. Sanyo Electric Co., a Panasonic subsidiary, has deals with Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Co. and Toyota.
Shinjo said Toshiba was in talks with other automakers, while declining to say which ones. Toshiba’s lithium-ion battery, called SCiB, offers safety, rapid recharging and a long life, Tokyo-based Toshiba said.
Mitsubishi, which started selling Japan’s first mass-market electric car, the four-seater bubble-shaped i-MiEV, earlier this year, said it had not yet decided whether it will use Toshiba’s battery in one of its EVs, but they were working on a battery together.
Mitsubishi now gets its batteries from a joint venture with Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa Corp., but is hoping to expand its model lineup in electric vehicles, said spokesman Tetsuji Inoue.
Nissan has already received 20,000 orders for its electric vehicle, the Leaf, going on sale in the U.S. and Japan, with first deliveries set for December 2010, spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa said.
