The company plans to start manufacturing batteries gradually at the plant, with mass production expected to start from February 2011, employing approximately 130 people after April 2011.
Kashiwazaki plant will start volume production at 500,000 cells a month, starting with production of 20Ah cells for electric vehicles and reach a capacity of over 1,000,000 cells a month within FY2011, on the lines of current production at Toshiba’s Saku operations in Nagano prefecture.
The new facility has been designed to change layout of manufacturing equipment, if required, to meet different manufacturing requirements, and has an operating structure that allows timely responses to increases in demand and product range.
The establishment of the new battery production facility to meet the growing demand from the EV and the power storage market that will accompany the coming transition to digital smart grids complements Toshiba’s goal of achieving net sales of JPY200bn from the SCiB business by FY2015.
