

Our VP of Sales spent a lot of time and energy trying to find someone at Sony that could tell us the status of the US18650 VTC4 and VTC5 batteries.

He was successful, but the news is bad. Here is the copyrighted response:



Thank you for your inquiry.



The 18650(VTC) type batteries are no longer manufactured by Sony.



This product was never intended for individual, public sale and are not eligible for warranty or engineering support. It was only available to OEM makers of specific devices.



The specifications and markings on the battery may vary depending upon the OEMs requirements. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the true manufacturer or authenticity of the batteries without physical inspection and manufacturing code research.



This type of battery seems to be widely available on the internet market through non-authorized resellers. Therefore, Sony is not liable for the performance or use of this type battery for non-intended purposes. Such applications should be done at the users own risk. Furthermore, any battery of this type claimed to be Sony brand may be older stock. We apologize that we cannot offer further assistance with this matter. Sincerely, Sony



Commentary:

It is very unfortunate that Sony would cancel the production of these cells, since they have been shown to be the highest performance high discharge cells ever made. However, they are a big company and have recently had an estimated $300 million dollar recall due to safety concerns. This may be why they decided to close this production line, since it is the most extreme battery they made.



