Panasonic stopped producing NCRs???

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

So, here it goes:
This is my Wallbuys order of 2xncr19650B rechargable protected:

Thanks for your support on Wallbuys and we have checked your order Q31712013 .
So sorry the item-sku8972 is out of stock in our warehouse .
We have just received the message from the supplier that they have stopped production at present.
Item:

Would you like to change for other items ?
We will arrange refund if you don’t want to purchase other items at present.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Look forward to your early reply !

Now i got the same message from Banggood too:

Thanks for your order in our Bangood!About your order 1631348,we are sorry to tell you that SKU101462 was stop production!Would you kindly change another Similar products?Or we can refund you the money you paid?Hope your answer so that we can solve it for you asap!

WHAT THE F*???

2

yes i was read that too,bad day for flashaholic :frowning:

3

Brb, buying up all in-stock NCRs…

Perhaps they mean the suppliers, who pop on the protection circuitry, are the ones stopping and not the actual NCR batteries?

4

Don’t know yet, i’ve just sent a message to Panasonic.

5

Could just be phasing out 3400s and replacing with 3600s

6

Are these made constantly, as in a dedicated line doing NCRs all day, every day? Or are they the type of product you do runs of periodically.

7

I can’t believe we would find out about their being discontinued from a chinese website so i highly doubt it

8

That particular supplier does not have those in stock anymore or does not produce those protected cells anymore. It has nothing to to with Panasonic, even there is a shortage of bare NCR18650B cells in China, even if!

9

Here is an answer from Panasonic:

Hello,

The NCR-18650B is still available.

However we do not sell it on line through any of our distributors as a single cell.

We only sell Li-Ion cells as a finished battery pack with safety circuit and battery management unit with connectors or leads.

If you need this as a replacement in an existing piece of equipment, then you should contact the manufacturer of the equipment and source replacement parts through them.

If this is for a new design, then please forward us your charge and discharge requirements and design. Then we can put you in contact with one of our approved pack makers who will be able to quote you for packs made to your specification.

Kind Regards

Dave Duffin

10

Hey, that is a fast, helpful and kind answer, clearly not coming from China ;-)

11

And in other news, Chevrolet has stopped making pickup trucks and SUVs.

12

From what I can gather from my suppliers (which may be as unreliable, so take this with a grain of salt) the major cell manufacturers are actually starting to enforce the policy that they've had all along, which is that these cells are not for sale to consumers in bare cell form. A lot of distributors over there can no longer buy the cells like they have been.

They want approved pack builders using approved designs with their cells.

13

Guess we will all be buying laptop batteries from now on…

14

Laptop batteries are not protected and you can still buy unprotected cells…

15

Yea i know they’re unprotected, but this:
“We only sell Li-Ion cells as a finished battery pack with safety circuit and battery management unit with connectors or leads.”
concerns me…

16

One of the possible scenarios:

- legit distributor orders, let say, 100.000 cells from Panasonic,

- they say: “We are going to make laptop batteries and/or rebuild old laptop batteries with this cells”

- Panasonic believes them

- but they use only 50.000 cells for laptop batteries

- and because it is a better deal or they just don’t need them, they sale other 50K to some third party (maybe daughter company)

  • or they equip them with protection circuit and sale them like that or… who knows what

Why they bought 100K if they need only 50K! maybe they got significantly better deal for large order…

We will never know…

17

You do that once and then it happens what happened to xtar products, sold by fasttech, where MAP f* them, and they can’t sell their products anymore…

18

not necessarily, Panasonic cells are not branded so there is no brand name to protect
I believe that MAP is more about protecting the Brand Name than making money
because the turnover is significantly lower especially when there is so many alternates on the market.
For example I don’t believe that Nitecore is making any money on their new NL189 (panasonic 3400mAh cell).
On other hand you know how chinese market is functioning: “you want a red letters on a green background -> no problem”,
as long there is some profit in that :slight_smile:

19

Anything new on this topic? Everywhere i look, they are being sold out…

20

with the way high drain cells are on the up and up (sony, samsung)…. we wont need panasonic soon.