Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) announced last Thursday that it has completed construction of a plant to be used for the trial mass production of lithium-ion batteries.

The commercial production verification plant for lithium-ion secondary batteries at MHI's Nagasaki Shipyard and Machinery Works facility has a production capacity of 66 megawatt hours of batteries a year. This is equivalent to 400,000 medium-sized cells.

MHI says it will verify various technologies at the plant as it prepares for full-scale commercial production next year. The start date for commercial production will depend on the domestic and overseas market situations, future prospects and the results of the trial production.

The construction of the new plant started in the northern autumn of 2009, and next month, MHI will launch production to verify factors essential for commercial production, including operation rates and battery performance.

MHI has integrated various technologies from its diversified business areas into the plant, including those related to slurry preparation, coasting and mass-production management know-how from its turbocharger production.

Besides producing lithium-ion secondary batteries, the company has also launched products that use the batteries. In October 2009, MHI started marketing the world's first engine-battery hybrid forklifts that use a lithium-ion battery as the power train, expected to significantly reduce fuel consumption (Forkliftaction.com News #432).

MHI says it is targeting other forklift, electric bus and crane manufacturers with its lithium-ion battery system to install as a power train in their products. It has also developed a large-scale energy storage system using a lithium-ion battery and is verifying the system for application as an auxiliary power source to supplement unstable electric power supply systems overseas and as an electricity supply grid stabilisation system.