PALO ALTO, USA – Tesla will continue to purchase batteries from long-time Japanese supplier Panasonic until at least 2022 despite plans by the U.S. electric vehicle maker to implement its own cheaper option.
Tesla revealed Monday that it has signed a new pricing agreement with Panasonic for lithium-ion batteries. However, he did not specify whether this includes a 4680 battery cell, a more cost – effective unit that Tesla unveiled last September, which the company said would significantly reduce the cost of electric vehicles.
Nikkei Asia previously announced that Panasonic will start rolling out prototypes of the 4680 for Tesla as early as 2021. While Tesla plans to make the new cell itself, the battery industry watchers states that Panasonic will try to take over some of the manufacturing, as the automaker is unlikely to be able to handle production entirely on its own.
Shares in Panasonic rose 2.6% in trading on Tuesday morning in Tokyo, compared to a 0.3% fall for the Nikkei 225 index.
The battery news came the same day that Tesla’s share price hit a new high, closing at $ 729.77 on Monday, the first trading day of the year, to bring market capitalization of nearly $ 700 billion to the company.
The strong performance came after Tesla announced over the weekend that it would deliver 499,550 vehicles in 2020, just shy of the company’s half-million delivery target but far above Wall Street analysts ’estimates and jumping from its 367,500 cars. delivered in 2019.
Tesla’s pandemic-challenged performance has been backed by growing demand from China and a production ramp at the two-year-old Shanghai factory.
Tesla said it has begun production of Model Y in Shanghai with a view to delivery soon. The company began taking orders for its China-made Model Y sports utility vehicles last week after reducing its price by 30% to 339,900 yuan ($ 52,600), according to a website Tesla China.
The company’s Chinese website was unavailable for a while after the news of a new price. “Our website is currently getting over new orders. Please be patient with us,” Tesla said in a Jan. post. 1 on Weibo.
Tesla said in a tweet that it was “making and delivering half a million cars” in 2020 even though the 450-unit delivery figure was short of 500,000. The California-based carmaker made a total of 509,737 vehicles last year, according to a company filing.