Hitachi develops lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrids

Japanes electronics major Hitachi today said that it had devevloped lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, for the fist time within the Group,  through its Hitachi Vehicle Energy Ltd, which develops and manufactures lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications.

Though the development of lithium-ion batteries for plug in hybrid electric vehicles is a first for the Hitachi Group, in 2000, the Group became the first in the world to begin volume production of safe, high-performance, long-lasting automotive lithium-ion batteries. Since then, it has manufactured 900,000 cells to the market, mainly for commercial hybrid buses and trucks, as well as for railway cars and other applications.

Hitachi will display lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles at the 1st International Rechargeable Battery Expo, which will be held at Tokyo Big Sight from 3 to 5 March 2010.

The Japnese company said that the new batteries were developed in response to the growing demand for environment-friendly vehicles resulting from the increasingly strict regulations on automobile exhaust emissions around the world.

Starting from the spring of 2010, the company will begin shipping samples to automobile manufacturers in Japan and overseas.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) have two running modes: an EV (electric vehicle) mode, in which the vehicle runs on a motor alone, and an HEV (hybrid electric vehicle) mode, in which the vehicle is driven by both the engine and the motor. PHEVs offer dramatically improved gas mileage and reduced exhaust emissions, and so are considered a strong contender among environment-friendly vehicles of the future.