History of Freedom

Pananica／Battery charger

Nicad batteries were used in power tools, portable VCRs, video cameras and other applications in the 1970s and 1980s, leading the cordless era.

The development of sealed nickel-cadmium batteries (Ni-Cd batteries), leading portable rechargeable batteries, was launched in 1957 by SANYO Electric and in 1959 by Matsushita Electric. After overcoming various challenges their product history began in 1963 when SANYO Electric released the industry's first rechargeable transistor radio using its Ni-Cd batteries named Cadnica. Meanwhile, Matsushita Electric released Pananica rechargeable batteries in 1970. Subsequently, in 1985, Matsushita Electric released the new high-capacity Pananica SM Series, with an energy density more than 30% higher than conventional models, achieving equipment portability. This groundbreaking technology was used in video cameras, cordless vacuum cleaners, and mobile phones, contributing to the spread of cordless equipment and the expansion of the applications.

Maintaining a balance between battery capacity, input/output, shelf life, and reliability is the key expertise that defines technological differences between battery manufacturers. In 1989, consumer complaints about a client's video cameras were reported due to an electrolyte leakage from the batteries supplied by Matsushita Electric. The problem was attributable to the fact that when commercializing the SM30, the world's highest-capacity Ni-Cd battery, ahead of other manufacturers, we focused too much on shelf life as the most important feature and designed it with slightly more electrolyte.
The client imposed the condition that if we could not solve the problem within three months, then they would switch a manufacturer. Relevant departments of Matsushita Electric joined together to work on battery improvement around the clock, and eventually managed to finish the product that met customer requirements within three months. One reason for this success was that the client assigned three of their employees to our business division based on their decision that they were also responsible for the problem since they had approved Matsushita Electric's Ni-Cd batteries. This collaboration allowed us to work together on evaluations and analyses as one team.
When resuming the delivery of products in July 1989, as a token of repentance, we conducted a large-scale beach seining event on Shonan Beach, with 80 employees from the client and 200 from Matsushita Electric. We pledged to each other to strive for social contributions from a global perspective. It was the fruit of earnest efforts of the client and Matsushita Electric's development, manufacturing, and sales departments to nurture mutual respect and maintain the integrity of both brands. This is a typical example of "After a storm comes a calm."

High-capacity Lithium-ion Batteries

By leveraging their features of light weight and high energy density, lithium-ion batteries quickly surpassed the conventionally mainstream products, namely Ni-Cd batteries and nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries, as the leading portable rechargeable batteries. The successive emergence of products requiring high-capacity rechargeable batteries, such as camcorders, mobile phones, and laptop PCs, also contributed significantly to the rapid expansion of the lithium-ion battery market.
In 2006, Matsushita Electric brought second-generation lithium-ion batteries into practical application, using nickel material for the positive electrode ahead of the entire industry (at the time of development, first-generation lithium-ion batteries were mainstream products using cobalt material for the positive electrode and graphite for the negative electrode). Lithium-ion batteries use combustible organic solvent as their electrolyte. This posed a significant technological challenge to ensure battery capacity, safety, and reliability. In particular, it was deemed difficult to achieve the practical use of a nickel-based positive electrode. To overcome this challenge, Matsushita Electric optimized the composition of the composite oxide, primarily composed of lithium nickel oxide with a solid solution incorporating cobalt and aluminum as partial substitutes for nickel. The company also developed a technology to form a heat resistance layer (HRL) between the electrode plates (between the negative electrode and separator), thereby successfully developing lithium-ion batteries that ensure both high capacity and safety.
The HRL technology develops a heat resistance layer made of insulating metal oxide on the electrode plate surface to prevent short circuits and thermal runaway caused by foreign substances. The use of this safety technology drastically increased the energy density of lithium-ion batteries.

From left to right: '1865', '2170', '4680'
The first two digits indicate diameter (18 mm/21 mm) and the second two digits indicate height (65 mm/70 mm), with the '4680' currently being developed with a cylinder diameter more than twice as large at once.

As automotive rechargeable batteries for environmentally friendly vehicles, Panasonic develops and sells nickel-metal hydride batteries and lithium-ion batteries, with the latter dominating the EV market.
The automotive and industrial lithium-ion battery business began in 2009 when Panasonic signed an agreement with a US venture company to supply batteries with a high-capacity nickel-based positive electrode as the first cylindrical batteries to be used for EVs. Subsequently, due to increased concerns about environmental and energy issues, the full-scale development of vehicles to replace gasoline- and diesel-powered cars was launched. With a massive market anticipated for automotive and industrial batteries, the competition for development became especially intense.
Against this backdrop, Panasonic began the development and production of nickel-metal hydride batteries for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and lithium-ion batteries for HEVs, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and EVs, contributing to the promotion of electric and other environmentally friendly vehicles.