Boston-Power announces HP as a customer
Boston-Power has announced HP as its first customer for its laptop batteries. HP will offer Boston-Power batteries as part of its Enviro series of environmentally friendly products. The Boston-Power Sonata batteries are made from more environmentally friendly materials, making them the only rechargeable Li-ion battery which has earned the Nordic Ecolabel. And, since the Sonata batteries will maintain their charge capacity for three years, HP will offer an unprecedented 3-year warranty on these batteries.
The Enviro replacement batteries will be available for many HP notebook models, beginning in early 2009.
Wall Street Journal coverage of the story is here. A more detailed story is in Xconomy.
Boston-Power is a great study in perseverance. HP has been a vocal supporter of the company from the start. However, getting a new battery approved for use in an HP notebook is no small task. Not only must the technology be validated, but the long cycle-life benefits must also be confirmed. Then, mass production capabilities have to be proven in order to supply a large customer like HP. And, of course, it is much easier to describe scalable, high-quality, manufacturing than it is to do it, and to do it to the satisfaction of a demanding customer like HP.
Kudos to the Boston-Power team for realizing the first part of their vision. They are the only US-developed technology supplier to be approved for notebook sales, arguably one of the most demanding applications for Li-ion batteries. And, to have that realized with a top-tier customer like HP is something to be proud of.
Disclaimer -- I am an indepdendent director on the Board of Boston-Power.
