Posted on 08/15/2007 8:40:54 PM PDT by neverdem
MILAN: Despite a long series of problems connected to lithium-ion batteries - most recently on Tuesday, when Nokia warned customers that 46 million batteries in its cellphones might be defective - some experts maintain that they are still the best and safest option for running the myriad electronic devices that have come to define everyday life in much of the world.
The sheer number involved in the Nokia replacement program, which fell short of a formal product recall in which customers are told to return their products, overwhelms previous moves by companies over the last few years to recall batteries in laptop computers.
Yet the Nokia batteries called into question still amount to fewer than half a percent of the cellphones sold in the past 12 months. Although experts acknowledge that deficiencies must be addressed, they said it was too early to sound the alarm against all lithium-ion batteries, which are used not only in most cellphones and laptops, but also most portable music players and other electronic devices.
"From an engineering level this is not such a big deal because it's a very, very small percent of the batteries," said Martin Garner, director of wireless intelligence at the consultancy Ovum in London. "At the moment Nokia is doing the right thing, but if there are more incidents and if somebody puts a video on YouTube with a phone exploding, this could move to a much bigger dimension."
Nokia's move this week follows the recall of more than 10 million lithium-ion batteries for laptop computers in the last 18 months. Those recalls involved computers from Dell, Apple, Toshiba, Gateway, Lenovo, Panasonic and Sony. Toshiba on Monday recalled another 1,400 computers, its fourth recall in the past year, because of potentially faulty Sony batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries have taken over from other...
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Unidentified Virus Decimates China's Pig Population
HIV triggers the 'opposite of cancer' in the brain - Study unpicks how AIDS causes dementia.
Energy Nature gave free access to a slew of articles funded by the DOE.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
thanks neverdem. From the files...
“AC Propulsion had made the tzero with lead-acid batteries since 1997, but this year released a revamped version with the kind of lithium-ion batteries used in laptop computers. The range, which increased to 280 to 300 miles from 100 miles per charge, now compares well with fuel cell cars.”
The World’s Fastest Electric Car
Dan Lienert
http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/21/cx_dl_1021vow_print.html
The most likely explanation is a bad polymeric positive temperature coefficient (PPTC) circuit protection device.
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/NEA/archive/200203/172427/
Thanks for the link.
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