“Hitachi Chemical recently integrated Shin-Kobe fully into its business, making it a 100% subsidiary,” Green Car Congress writes. Going on:
Writing in Hitachi Chemical Technical Report Nº 55, Hitachi engineers noted that:
“LIB for industrial use has now reached the stage of performing wide-range verification tests for output variation control for photovoltaic power generation system and wind power generators, back-up power supply while striving to reduce power consumption during peak demand at factories, buildings, etc., back-up power supply during power outages and partly employed for practical use. Performance requirements for LIB for industrial use vary significantly depending on the intended applications but the extended service life, high-level safety and reliability are common baseline performances, which development activity is thus continuing to achieve.”
The current Hitachi cells for large-scale energy storage systems have 75 Ah capacity (CH75). CH75 can maintain continuous discharge at 3 CA (225 A) and meet the required discharge current of a battery for 30 minutes or less while reducing power consumption during peak demand at factories, etc. Also, CH75 can expect a service life to endure up to 4,000 repeated charge-discharge cycles (25 °C, at a 75% depth of discharge).
To achieve the high output power and extended service life, Hitachi Chemical employed a newly Mn-rich cathode active material, reduced the electrode and electrolyte resistance and stabilized the SEI layer formed on the anode surface.
Capacity will be increased from 5,000 cells per month to 12,500 cells per month; a new production line will then increase the maximum capacity to 22,000 cells a month.
In addition to targeting domestic demand for renewable energy storage, Hitachi Chemical will also seek to export the batteries to Europe, the US and other parts of Asia.