Apple, Dell, Lenovo To Develop Battery Standards

In the wake of Dell's recall of 4.1 million Lithium Ion batteries and multiple embarrassing incidents of both Dell and Apple laptops catching fire, AppleInsider is reporting that Apple, Dell, and Lenovo will be holding a summit next month to develop lithium ion (Li-Ion) standards. All 3 companies are members of the IPC OEM Critical Components Committee which create standards for various electronic devices.

"Without a doubt, standardization can and will address the issue of operation and safety called into question by the use of lithium ion batteries.," said John Grosso, chairman of the IPC OEM Critical Components Committee and director of supplier engineering and quality at Dell. "While the Committee had identified lithium ion batteries as the next product for standardization, we are going to accelerate our activities now."

Grosso said the IPC Committee will identify any current standards related to lithium ion batteries with the goal of standardizing design, performance and safety requirements for these batteries.

Apple has historically used Li-Ion batteries in its iBook and PowerBook laptops, but has opted for Lithium Polymer batteries (Li-Poly) in its MacBook and MacBook Pro computers. One of the apparent advantages of Li-Poly batteries is reduced combustability. Apple still uses Li-Ion batteries in its current model iPods however.