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The global battery market is now worth approximately 55 billion US dollars, of which roughly 5.5 billion dollars is allocated to rechargeable (secondary) batteries. The growth is estimated at 6 percent annually through 2010. China, India, France, Italy and Japan will record some of the most robust market gains. Currently the fastest growth area within the battery sector is the automotive market, which is receiving sound double-digit growth. In the automotive space, Hybrid Electric Vehicles are driving a surge in demand for lithium and other chemical technologies, while the core lead-acid battery market continues to sustain revenues and show robust growth due to after-market sales and the expanding worldwide fleet of motor vehicles. Almost 50% of the current 14 billion dollar SLA battery market can be attributed to the replacement category. Despite recent increases in lead prices, the SLA battery market is likely to experience continued growth owing to its reliability, rugged construction, low cost of maintenance, better performance compared with other technologies, and the inability to develop a commercially viable alternative technology that could replace SLA batteries in all these aspects. Another hot growth sub-category is the PC battery market which is expected to increase from two billion dollars in 2007 at a compound annual growth rate of approximately nine%. The facts above are generous proof of just how hot the battery market is for venture capitalists at the moment, and what a vast return they expect if a battery technology breakthrough should occur. A revolution in this space might be similar to the holy-grail, due to dependance on batteries for portability. Of the many chemical technologies, the Lithium rechargeable battery market is projected to be nine billion dollars in 2015. Of this growth, the Lithium rechargeable battery market for Hybrid Electric Vehicles is envisaged to rise from virtually zero in 2005 to roughly US one billion dollars in 2015 – the equivalent of a 50% year-over-year compound annual growth rate. The overall market for Lithium batteries is increasing much faster in terms of volume, but due to device cost reductions due to improved efficiencies in the manufacturing processes and increases in production volumes, aggregate revenue growth is not forecast to intensify so quickly. The storage battery market is extremely rivalrous and hence vast sums are invested on R-and-D each quarter. New chemical technologies, along with advancements in old technologies leads industry pundits to predict transmutations in battery capacity (for equivalent size and weight) of 3 to 4 times over the next 5 years. This approximate doubling of capacity every 2 and a half years is similar to moores law in the computer sector which sees central processor power doubling every eighteen months. In terms of disposable batteries, on average a consumer purchases these types of batteries four times per year. Single-use batteries are reckoned to have the largest margins per sq foot in most retail stores, and they are often an impulse buy by the consumer. These kinds of batteries are sold in more retail shops than any other products, period. This is obviously due to the massive array of devices that are reliant on batteries – Many pundits see battery sales pretty much recession proof. From an environmental position, throwaway batteries are obviously questionable, due to their very nature. The earths landfills are full of the often toxic byproducts of the disposable battery boom. In light of this the European Union has stepped up and put in place a bill called the European Directive on Batteries, which has finally been ratified and will come into force in 2009, introducing recycling to the market. It is hoped that the United States and other nations will follow this development closely and introduce their own environmental legislation.
Article Source: http://www.phalenes.org/articles
Susan is a contributing editor to Fuzing.com. This article is proudly brought to you by trade leads from the Batteries section of our Business to Business portal.
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