OSAKA – Panasonic will start making products as early as next year of new, cheaper battery-type proteins for Tesla electric vehicles.
The cylinder cell, whose plans were announced in September by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, was developed in-house by Panasonic at Tesla’s request. It is larger than the automaker’s standard batteries, at 4.6 cm in diameter and 8 cm in length, and also uses a variety of materials. The new design costs less than half as much per kilowatt-hour, according to Tesla.
Panasonic will establish a prototype production line at existing facilities. The cost of the project is expected to run into the tens of millions of dollars.
While Tesla plans to make the new cell itself, battery industry watchers expect the automaker to find it difficult to handle all production on its own. Panasonic will seek a partnership in the future to undertake some of the manufacturing.
Panasonic recorded $ 473.5 billion yen ($ 4.57 billion) in sales from its auto battery business for the fiscal year ended March 31, with Tesla as its main customer. The company plans to expand capacity by 10% in 2021 at a U.S. facility it will work with Tesla in Nevada and is considering a new factory in Europe.