Portable battery market to reach $30.5 billion worldwide by 2015

BOULDER, USA: The number of electronics applications that have become portable in the last 20 years has risen dramatically with the evolution of battery technologies. The portable power battery market has grown significantly during this same timeframe across a variety of consumer and industrial application areas. While this sector was initially constrained by supply-side limitations, the market has matured and is showing steady growth.

A new report from Pike Research forecasts that the portable power sector will continue expanding at a healthy rate over the next few years, rising from $20.3 billion in global revenues in 2010 to $30.5 billion by 2015. The cleantech market intelligence firm estimates that portable power represents 55 percent of the global battery industry, with the stationary and motive battery sectors accounting for the balance of the market. The firm’s analysis indicates that portable power’s CAGR of 8.5 percent will outpace growth in the other two sectors.

“Advanced battery technologies hold the potential to have a major impact on how portable devices are used in a variety of consumer and industrial markets,” says Pike Research president Clint Wheelock. “However, batteries are governed and constrained by a set of electrochemical laws that prevent them from achieving the kinds of advancements we have seen in the electronics industry. There is no Moore’s Law for battery technology, but a large number of innovators are actively seeking ways to significantly improve the performance of batteries.”

Pike Research forecasts that the largest market growth will continue to be in batteries for laptop computers and mobile phones, driven largely by ongoing increases in unit shipments. Other major growth categories will include portable navigation, military applications, medical devices, power tools, and instrumentation/sensing. A few application segments, such as batteries for portable AV/music and digital photography, will experience flat to negative growth between 2010 and 2015.