Steve wrote:
> I would speculate that Toshiba headquarters knowing that their R&D teams were working on the promising nano battery designs made the decision to discontinue the more conventional lithium-ion technology more than a year ago. They knew that if their R&D teams proved successful conventional batteries sales would likely be toast, so you might as well dump them now in preparation of the brave new world. > > It's a bit disconcerting from the perspective of an outsider, not knowing what internal strategies were in the process of being playing out. > > I bet headquarters made the decision to dump the convention lithium battery the second they were fully convinced the new nano batteries were economically feasible to build and sell. > > Mike, Jed, how much of a corporate "secret" was this? Strategically speaking, would this R&D have been kept completely under corporate wraps, or would it have been possible to have acquired an inkling of what was about to unfold it if one had been savvy enough to have read the right technical journals? MC: I don't know. Corporations can be very quiet about their product development. I haven't followed this thread in detail, but can surmise: Toshiba may not have come up with the basic research all by themselves; it may have been in the wind, so to speak, if one is a battery specialist and reads all the right journals. There are many dots waiting to be connected, which keeps conspiracy buffs busy. From my industrial experience, I can testify that it takes a **lot** of work and $$$$ to ready something like a new battery for production. The NiMH battery was invented by Edison, I believe, and used for years in backup applications where its higher cost was tolerated. It is only in the last few years that this technology has been available in flashlight cells. I don't know why the delay has been so great. Part of it is market demand for higher energy batteries for toys and cameras, and objections to the toxicity of NiCd. Mike Carrell
