Nokia issues battery warning

Nokia, the world’s largest cellphone maker, yesterday joined a growing list of consumer-electronics makers forced to warn customers that batteries shipped with their products could be defective, posing a potential safety risk.

Finland-based Nokia Oyj issued a global alert, warning that up to 46 million of its cellphone lithium-ion batteries used in its cellphones could, in rare cases, overheat due to a short-circuit while being charged. Nokia is offering to replace the batteries.

The batteries, with the designation BL-5C, were made by Japan’s Matsushita Battery Industrial Co. between December 2005 and November 2006.

The alert, issued after 100 instances globally of phones overheating, is the latest in a string of similar problems experienced by consumer and business electronics makers.

Last year, Sony Corp. recalled more than 10 million laptops after it discovered that lithium-ion batteries used in them could overheat and catch fire. The recalls included notebooks made by other major computer makers, including Dell Inc., Lenovo Inc., Apple Inc. and Acer Inc.

Earlier this month, Sony was forced to recall another 1,400 laptop computer batteries in computers made by Toshiba Corp.

Some observers are wondering whether the industry has a more serious problem on its hands than just sloppy manufacturing.

“There’s a very constant trend in the technology industry for devices to get smaller, faster, more powerful and more feature-filled,” said Carmi Levy, a former analyst and senior vice-president of strategic consulting for AR Communications Inc. “That presents a serious challenge to the engineers that have to provide power for all of that stuff because they are given less space.

“This applies to everything — laptops, cellphones, smart phones, MP3 players — they’re all running hotter.” In the absence of new battery technologies, Levy said, battery manufacturers are being forced to stick the same electrochemical components into smaller enclosures, battery cases, which reduces manufacturing tolerances and increases the possibility of defects.

At the same time, device makers are tempted to shoehorn existing battery types into their shrinking product designs, placing the power sources in closer proximity to wires and other components. That leaves less room for the excess heat created by battery malfunctions.

“What’s happening today is that a defect in battery construction, which years ago would not have led to a catastrophic event, is now much more likely to lead to a catastrophic event because the devices are running so much hotter.”

Nokia officials, however, stressed that the vast majority of the company’s cellphones — Nokia sold more than 100 million handsets in the second quarter of this yearalone — have experienced no battery issues.

“There have been a 100 instances out of 300 million batteries so that is a very rare occurrence,” Nowak said, referring specifically to the BL-5C battery type.

Officials also noted that no one has been injured and no property has been damaged.

The warning doesn’t affect any other batteries sold by Nokia or other BL-5C batteries manufactured by other suppliers.

Nokia has so far offered to replace batteries for concerned consumers. Company officials have yet to determine the cost of providing the replacements.

Some are calling on the industry to spend more money on product testing and battery research and development.

Michelle Warren, a senior analyst at Info-Tech Research Group, said the standards for battery performance may need to be elevated to ensure public safety in an industry in which where intense competition can put pressure on companies to cut corners.

“The technology is not perfect,” Warren said. “While the risk is not huge at this point in time, it’s a risk that we all still take every time we use a cellphone or a notebook.”