is a

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

-based Japanese company specializing in the development and production of lead acid and lithium-ion batteries, used in automobiles, motorcycles and other areas including aerospace and defense applications.

History

Yuasa

In 1909, Shichizaemon Yuasa established Yuasa Iron Works to modernize the family business, founded in 1666 as a charcoal trading business. Yuasa Iron Works began producing storage batteries in 1915, and three years later Yuasa Storage Battery Co., Ltd was established. Soon after, Yuasa Storage Battery Co., Ltd began making Japan's first automotive batteries. In 1925, Yuasa began making dry cells, and in 1941 they began making alkaline cells. The dry battery business was later spun off into Yuasa Dry Battery Co., Ltd, which later merged back into Yuasa Storage Battery Co., Ltd to form Yuasa Battery Co, Ltd, later renamed to Yuasa Corporation.

GS

In 1904, developed a high-capacity lead-acid battery to supply backup power to his factory during outages of Kyoto's then unreliable power grid. The Japanese navy purchased 400 units of this battery. Shimadzu established Japan Storage Battery Co., Ltd in 1917 and began producing automotive batteries in 1919. In 1938 they began producing alkaline batteries and in 1940 they began making high-pressure mercury lamps. GS was established in 1917 and is an abbreviation comprising the initials of Genzou Shimadzu Jr. who founded Japan Storage Battery in 1917. He was also the second president of Shimadzu Corporation founded in 1875 by his father, .

GS Yuasa

In 2004, Yuasa Corporation merged with Japan Storage Battery to form GS Yuasa Corporation. As of 2014, GS Yuasa had 9 plants for manufacturing industrial lead-acid and NiCd batteries and 5 plants for Li-Ion cells. GS Yuasa also sells other products including power supplies, lamps and motorcycle batteries. Now the top power sports battery producer, Yuasa provides nearly 90% of the batteries used in power sport vehicles in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Joint ventures

GS Yuasa was one of the active players in the

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

battery industry during the late 2000s to early 2010s when numerous battery vendors largely from Japan had formed alliances with car manufacturers to enter the novel market of EV.

Lithium Energy Japan

In 2007, GS Yuasa and

Mitsubishi Motors is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.

have formed an alliance and started a joint venture named Lithium Energy Japan (LEJ) that develops and manufactures lithium-ion batteries for automotive and industrial use. The Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the first mass-produced electric car, was equipped with the batteries from LEJ.

Blue Energy Co.

In 2009,

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

partnered with GS Yuasa to set up an EV battery supplier Blue Energy Co. (BEC). The HVs from Honda including Civic Hybrid have been powered by lithium-ion batteries manufactured by BEC which has a production facility in

. However, Honda has been in search for new partners aside from BEC since the late 2010s, teaming up with various companies like

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

, and CATL.

Lithium Energy & Power GmbH

In 2014, Robert Bosch GmbH and GS Yuasa partnered on next-gen Li-ion EV battery with the ambitious goals to double energy density and make it to mass market by 2020 while lowering the cost by half as well. The venture has ended without a meaningful outcome after Bosch has decided to outsource battery cell manufacturing in 2018.

Overseas operations

United States

Yuasa Battery Inc

Yuasa Battery, Inc (U.S.A.) was established in 1965. In 1979, Yuasa began producing motorcycle batteries in a joint venture established with General Battery Corporation in Laureldale, PA a few years earlier. Today, Yuasa Battery Inc supplies batteries for motorcycles, scooters, personal watercraft, all-terrain vehicles (ATV), and side by sides ( UTV).

Yuasa-Exide Inc

In 1987

Fruit of the Loom Fruit of the Loom is an American company that manufactures clothing, particularly casual wear and undergarment, underwear. The company's world headquarters are located in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Since 2002, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary ...

sold its General Battery Corporation to

Exide Exide was originally a brand name for batteries produced by The Electric Storage Battery Company and later became Exide Holdings, Inc. doing business as Exide Technologies, an American lead–acid battery, lead-acid batteries manufacturing com ...

Corporation. In 1991, Yuasa Battery Co. Ltd (Japan) bought Exide's industrial battery division, forming Yuasa-Exide Inc, later renamed to Yuasa Inc. In 2000, a management buyout of Yuasa Inc's industrial battery business formed Enersys. Today, Enersys sells a wide variety of batteries.

Europe

In 1981, Yuasa established one company in the UK to manufacture VRLA batteries and another for sales and distribution. They later established companies in Germany, France and Italy for sales and distribution. Yuasa Corporation bought a 50% share in Lucas Batteries Ltd in 1988, forming Lucas-Yuasa Batteries Ltd. Yuasa bought the remaining 50% of Lucas Batteries in 1997, forming Yuasa Automotive Batteries Europe Ltd which marketed automotive batteries under Lucas and other names until 2006, when Yuasa began marketing automotive batteries in Europe under their own name. In 2002, Yuasa Battery Europe Ltd was formed as a parent company for Yuasa's various European sales companies. Today, Yuasa Battery Europe Ltd sells a variety of batteries.

Australia

Century Batteries Australia is a division of Century Yuasa Batteries Pty Ltd and an affiliate of the GS Yuasa Corporation.

Vietnam

GS Battery VietNam Co., Ltd is a company 100% foreign owned capital, joint venture between GS-Yuasa Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation.

Miscellaneous

Boeing 787

The parent company in Japan was linked to faulty electrics used in Boeing's 787 Dreamliner plane. The electrical battery control system was made by

Thales Group Thales S.A., Trade name, trading as Thales Group (), is a French multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence industry, defence corporation specializing in electronics. It designs, develops and manufactures a wide variety of aer ...

which also selected GS Yuasa.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. ANA operates services to both domestic and international destinations and is Japan's largest airline, ahead of its main rival flag carrier Japan Airlines. the airline has approximate ...

(ANA) had replaced 10 batteries (of 17 planes) while

Japan Airlines Japan Airlines (JAL) is the flag carrier airline of Japan. JAL is headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Narita and Haneda Airport, Haneda airports, as well as secondary hubs in Osaka's Kansai ...

(JAL) had replaced "several" on its 7 planes, before recent mishaps. As of January 29, 2013, the Japan Transport Safety Board has approved the Yuasa factory

quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach plac ...

and continues to investigate the damaged battery of the ANA 787. Meanwhile, the American

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

continues to look for defects in the Boston JAL 787 battery.

Gallery

References

External links

Yuasa Europe

GS Yuasa Corporation

GS Yuasa Lithium Power (USA)

Yuasa Corporation (Japan)

Yuasa Batteries, Inc. (United States)

GS Yuasa to provide batteries for Hybrid Cars

Mitsubishi forms JV with GS Yuasa to build lithium ion batteries

* Wiki collection of bibliographic works on GS Yuasa {{Nikkei 225 Battery manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Kyoto Auto parts suppliers of Japan Electronics companies of Japan Defense companies of Japan Motor vehicle battery manufacturers Electrical equipment manufacturers Electric vehicle battery manufacturers Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies in the Nikkei 225 Japanese companies established in 2004 Japanese brands Mitsui 1666 establishments in Japan