Panasonic intends on establishing a new factory in the United States where it will build Tesla’s new 4680 electric vehicle battery cells.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK suggests that the company is looking to build the factory in either Oklahoma or Kansas at the cost of several billion dollars. Panasonic is thought to be eager to have the plant near the site of a battery factory that Tesla itself is planning for Texas.
Panasonic has previously announced plans to begin mass-producing Tesla’s new lithium-ion battery before the end of March 2024 and will initially do so with two new production lines at its western Japanese plant in Wakayama, Reuters reports.
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Tesla unveiled its ‘tabless’ 4680 battery in September 2020. It measures 46 mm by 80 mm and is larger than the cells currently used by the automaker. Elon Musk has said they will result in a 14 per cent reduction in cost per kWh at the cell form factor level. While Tesla itself will manufacture these cells in-house, other battery makers in addition to Panasonic plan on doing the same thing.
In fact, LG Energy Solutions is eager to manufacture the 4680 cells in the U.S. or Europe and supply them to Tesla.
An Israeli company by the name of StoreDot has also used the 4680 battery cell format to create its own battery that can be fully charged in just 10 minutes. Development of StoreDot’s 4680 cells took place over three years in collaboration with British Petroleum and in addition to offering 10-minute charging times, the cylindrical cells cost StoreDot no more than a standard battery cell. The Israeli company plans to begin production of the batteries in 2024.
