新闻来源:华尔街日报
索尼公司(Sony Corp.)去年自愿召回笔记本电脑电池一事曾闹得沸沸扬扬，而事隔一年之后松下电器产业公司(Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.)又重蹈索尼覆辙，此事凸显出电池行业的一些问题仍然存在。索尼公司(Sony Corp.)去年自愿召回笔记本电脑电池一事曾闹得沸沸扬扬，而事隔一年之后松下电器产业公司(Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.)又重蹈索尼覆辙，此事凸显出电池行业的一些问题仍然存在。
诺基亚公司(Nokia Corp.)周二表示，4,600万部诺基亚手机使用的松下产锂离子电池中，有一部分据报告存在过热问题。诺基亚表示将根据自愿召回程序更换这些电池。该 公司这一次要更换多少电池还不得而知，但潜在的更换数量是去年索尼召回事件中的四倍，因而成为迄今电池行业最大的一次产品召回事件。
自从 去年8月戴尔公司(Dell Inc.)令人震惊地宣布大规模召回索尼产笔记本电脑锂离子电池之后，电池行业一直被其他公司的类似事件所困扰。几乎所有的主要电脑厂商都已宣布召回索尼 的笔记本电脑电池，另外三洋电机股份有限公司(Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd.)也召回了笔记本电脑和手机电池。
频频曝光的电池问题和一再发生的召回事件，一方面要归因于厂商对消费者越来越多的关注开始作出更坚决的回应，但是也暴露出电池制造本身的难度是何等之高。
可充电的锂离子电池具备价格便宜、重量轻和比镍镉电池等其他类型电池更环保等优点，因而成为笔记本电脑和手机产业得以在过去15年成功发展的一大功臣。
但是锂离子电池的电量大，生产难度也大，且更容易过热，一旦断路会造成比硷性电池更严重的后果。索尼产电池去年就曾发生过起火事故。此次诺基亚召回的松下电池则是在充电过程中会出现过热。
更加糟糕的是，现在的电脑和手机越来越复杂，而且发展速度超过了电池技术的进步，这也就意味着电池的负荷会越来越大。
考虑到锂离子电池技术存在的缺陷，丰田汽车公司(Toyota Motor Corp.)已推迟了将其应用在混合动力汽车上的计划。不过行业专家表示，尽管锂离子电池有其局限性，但在可预见的未来仍然是最具实用性的电池技术。
为了维持其市场占有率，索尼本周宣布将斥资115亿日圆（折合9,760万美元）在新加坡建设一家手机电池厂，并且将采用更先进的锂离子聚合物技术生产电池。该厂拟于明年8月投产，初期月产能为100万块电池，到2010年则将提升至800万块。
日本东芝公司(Toshiba Corp.)等厂商正在开发燃料电池等替代能源技术。这种电池将摆脱化学能的束缚，但距离商用化仍路途遥远。
作 为全球四大锂离子电池厂商之一，松下表示，此次召回的电池问题出在制造过程中，原因是电池中用于阻隔正负电极以防止短路的部件出现损伤。这批电池引起的诺 基亚手机过热投诉目前只有100起，也没有人因此严重受伤。但诺基亚公司表示，为了以防万一，将更换松下于2005年12月至2006年11月在大阪主厂 制造的所有同类型电池。
预计召回费用大部分将由松下承担，有人估计这笔费用在200亿日圆左右。松下电器的股票周三在东京证交所(Tokyo Stock Exchange)收于每股2,015日圆，下跌近5%。
原文：
A year after Sony Corp.'s much publicized voluntary recall of laptop batteries, a similar problem at rival Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. underscores the challenges that the battery industry continues to face.
Nokia Corp. said Tuesday that an overheating problem was reported in some lithium-ion batteries made by Matsushita that are used in 46 million cellphones. Nokia said it would replace the batteries in a voluntary replacement program. It's not known how many batteries the company will swap, but the number of potential replacements is more than four times bigger than Sony's recall last year, making it the biggest battery-replacement program in the industry.
Since Dell Inc. shocked the world with a massive recall of Sony's lithium-ion laptop batteries last August, the battery industry has been plagued by similar issues at other companies. Nearly every major computer maker has announced recalls of Sony batteries while Sanyo Electric Co. has recalled laptop and mobile-phone batteries.
The spate of reported issues and recalls is attributed in part to the companies responding more assertively in light of increasing consumer concerns. But it also exposes the difficulties of manufacturing the batteries themselves.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have been a major factor in the success of the laptop-computer and mobile-phone industries in the past 15 years because they are inexpensive, lightweight and environmentally safer than alternatives such as nickel-cadmium.
However, the batteries generate large amounts of electricity, are difficult to manufacture and are more prone to overheating and have bigger consequences than conventional alkaline batteries when they short-circuit. Some of Sony's batteries last year were found to catch fire. In the case of the Nokia cellphones, the Matsushita batteries overheated during charging.
Exacerbating the situation, computers and cellphones have become increasingly complex and have outpaced developments in battery technology, which means greater burdens are being placed on the batteries.
Since the negative fallout around batteries using lithium-ion technology, Toyota Motor Corp. has delayed plans to use them in hybrid cars. Still, industry experts say that, despite its limitations, lithium-ion is still the most practical battery technology for the foreseeable future.
Sony this week announced it will spend 11.5 billion yen ($97.6 million) to build a cellphone-battery factory in Singapore, seeking to maintain its share of this market. Sony will make batteries with a more advanced lithium-ion polymer technology. It plans to begin operations at the plant next August with an initial monthly capacity of one million batteries, rising to eight million in 2010.
Companies such as Toshiba Corp. are working to develop alternative energy sources like fuel cells, which don't use chemicals, but they are still a long way from commercial use.
Matsushita, which is one of the world's top four lithium-ion battery makers, said its battery problems were caused in manufacturing when a part designed to prevent short-circuits by acting as a barrier between the positive and negative electrodes was scarred. Only 100 cases of overheating in Nokia's phones have been reported and there have been no serious injuries. Nonetheless the company said it is taking a precaution by exchanging all batteries of the same kind made between December 2005 and November 2006 at its main plant in Osaka in western Japan.
Matsushita is expected to bear most of the cost of the replacements, which some people estimate could be about 20 billion yen. The company's shares closed down nearly 5% at 2,015 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday.