With the real-life manufacturer of Boeing’s Japan-made batteries under intense scrutiny, the three-part series, which was carried by the national broadcaster NHK and showed its finale on Saturday, came at an angst-ridden time, and underscored the hopes that Japan had pinned on technologies like lithium-ion batteries.
As portrayed in the series, Takumi Electronics might as well be Japan Inc. itself. Takumi’s lead in televisions and mobile phones has been eclipsed by more nimble upstarts in South Korea and China, echoing the fate of Japanese technology giants like Sony and Panasonic. The only hope the company has now lies in its advanced battery technology.
“These lithium-ion batteries took us years to develop, and our technological advantage won’t waver so easily,” the Takumi Electronics president says defiantly to reporters after yet another disastrous earnings presentation. “We are betting on big growth in electric cars, and we are about to clinch some big deals.”
GS Yuasa, the real-life maker of Boeing’s lithium-ion batteries, made a similar bet, one that has not yet paid off.
Fire and smoke in batteries aboard Boeing’s next-generation Dreamliner have led to the grounding of all 50 of the planes while authorities around the world try to figure out the cause. On Thursday, the head of the United States National Transportation Safety Board, Deborah Hersman, said the fire seemed to have originated in one of the batteries, and faulted aviation officials for not anticipating the risks.
On Saturday and again on Monday, Boeing crews took a 787 on test flights to monitor the performance of the lithium-ion batteries. Both flights, Boeing said, were uneventful.
The recent troubles are hardly what GS Yuasa could have envisioned when it started making the batteries. In 2009, it started supplying the batteries for Mitsubishi Motors’ i-Miev electric vehicles, billed as the first mass-produced, fully electric car. Everything seemed to go well at the beginning. GS Yuasa executives said in interviews three years ago that the company was struggling to keep up with inquiries pouring in from automakers.
But demand for the electric vehicles has not taken off. Last month, Mitsubishi Motors sold just 137 i-Mievs, and GS Yuasa’s factories have been running at less than capacity.
That has marred plans at the company, which had hoped its lithium-ion technology would soon replace its older lead-acid batteries as its core business. GS Yuasa has still not turned a profit on its lithium-ion batteries, losing 3.26 billion yen, about $35 million, on the business last year despite directing the bulk of its capital investment to the technology, according to its annual report.
Enter Boeing and its next-generation 787 jet, which relies more than ever on electric systems and the batteries that power them. GS Yuasa won a contract in 2005 to supply Boeing with lithium-ion batteries through the French aviation electronics company Thales, and GS Yuasa has promoted aviation as a growth area that could make up for the disappointing electric vehicle market.
GS Yuasa’s president, Makoto Yoda, had high ambitions, telling Kyodo News in late 2011 that he wanted to double sales of lithium-ion batteries to clients other than automakers within five years. By “building on our track record in supplying Boeing,” he said, the company aimed to open up new uses for the battery technology, including small jets and helicopters.
Advanced batteries are also crucial to wider Japanese industry at a time when the country remains stunned by how swiftly its once-dominant makers of semiconductors and flat-panel televisions have been overtaken by South Korean rivals. The culprit is commoditization, which made Japan’s prized technology indistinguishable from everyone else’s.
There is already fear that Japan’s prized lithium-ion battery technology could go the same way.
Though Japan was long the world’s dominant supplier of lithium-ion technology, led by Sony’s first commercial lithium-ion batteries in 1991, rivals have largely usurped Japan’s lead. The catch-up has been especially swift in smaller lithium-ion batteries, which have become increasingly common.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/business/tv-show-mirrors-a-japanese-battery-makers-bind.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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