As posted by Wall Street JournalA small Boston-area company backed by venture capitalists won a contract from Hewlett-Packard Co. to make batteries that will be sold as so-called green power supplies for laptop computers.
The contract awarded to Boston Power Co. marks a rare inroad for a U.S. company in the rechargeable-battery business for consumer electronics. Japan's Sony Corp., Sanyo Electric Co. and Panasonic Corp. dominate the world-wide market.
Boston Power, based in Westborough, Mass., says its batteries can be recharged to full capacity more than 1,000 times -- three to four times as often as current batteries, which lose their recharging capability after 250 or so charges. The company says that means its batteries won't be replaced as often, reducing the number of batteries in landfills. H-P, the laptop-market leader, is providing a three-year warranty on the batteries, which it calls the "Enviro" line. That is triple the typical lithium-ion battery warranty.
"To be a supplier for a laptop-computer maker, hasn't been done" by a U.S. company, said Sara Bradford, a consultant for market researcher Frost & Sullivan, in Mountain View, Calif.
H-P said it expects to charge $20 to $30 more for the Enviro batteries than current replacement batteries, which typically cost $100 to $160. Shipments are to start early next year.
"This will be a litmus test to see if consumers put their money where their mouths are on environmental issues," said Richard Shim of market researcher IDC Corp., Framingham, Mass. "This will be the Prius of the battery world."
Boston Power, which has raised $70 million from venture capitalists and other investors, is one of a handful of small U.S. companies pursuing innovations in the rechargeable-battery field. A123 Systems, based in nearby Watertown, Mass., attracted attention when General Motors Corp. selected it to power a planned electric car, and Black & Decker Corp. picked it to make rechargeable batteries for cordless power tools.
Boston Power was started by a husband-and-wife team who each earned doctorates at Uppsala University in their native Sweden and worked in the U.S. for Arthur D. Little, a Boston consulting firm. Chief Executive Christina Lampe-Onnerud says she hopes that Boston Power will eventually manufacture the laptop batteries in the U.S. The batteries are being made in Taiwan and China, close to the factories of H-P's laptop manufacturers.
Boston Power said its batteries charge faster and don't degrade as fast as other lithium-ion cells, meaning that after several years of being recharged, laptops can still be used for two hours after each full charge. Ms. Lampe-Onnerud says she thinks the rapid-recharge will convince many users they don't need to carry a spare battery.
Ms. Lampe-Onnerud says the battery is also safer than current lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally explode or catch fire inside laptops. Such fires have led to several recalls during the past two years. The Boston Power battery is elliptical rather than round and has numerous vents to release pressure in case it starts to overheat. Rather than steel, it is made of aluminum, which was chosen to allow a battery to melt before extreme heat and pressure build up.
