![]() ![]() Is it possible you’d announce another plant in the US by 2024? Kansas adds another 60% to Panasonic’s global battery capacity. We work together with a lot of people on partnerships, because that allows us to tune in, both in technology, but more importantly on demand and supply. So that doesn’t take up huge battery demand. You’ll see timing for bringing in new models - some of those models are quite small in volume, they’re not huge. For example, is the internal combustion engine product going to continue for another 10 to 20 years? If it does, the demand signal for batteries will be less. It will depend on how the models roll out, and how strong. If we stay where we are, clearly, we don’t have enough batteries. ![]() So it’s hard to see what that demand stream looks like. Some of the other automakers don’t really have a full plate yet on timing. General Motors is clear they want everything electric by 2030. When do you see the battery shortage easing for automakers? I’ve been hearing for a while that there’s not going to be enough batteries. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation, edited for length and clarity. Panasonic broke ground on a new $4 billion factory in DeSoto, Kansas, in November that’s supposed to start production in 2025, making 2170 cells for multiple customers, including Lucid. The facility now produces 37 gigawatt-hours of batteries a year (for context: one gigawatt can power about 9,000 Nissan Leafs). Panasonic has been producing Tesla’s 2170 cylindrical battery cells in Nevada since 2016. Given all the uncertainty about just how quickly car companies and consumers will go electric in this more challenging macro environment, I jumped at the opportunity to speak with Allan Swan, the president of Panasonic Energy North America, on the show floor at CES earlier this month. What makes him unique is his willingness to take on more risk than other executives can stomach. Musk has repeatedly referred to battery supply as the limiting factor for Tesla’s growth, and he’s far from the only auto CEO concerned about shortages. The carmaker said the splurge will go to 4 million square feet of manufacturing space that eventually will make 100 gigawatt-hours of cells (enough for roughly 1.5 million Model 3 or Y vehicles), as well as Semi trucks. Hence, Tesla’s announcement this week of $3.6 billion more investment in Nevada, where it’s partnered for years with Panasonic at one of the world’s highest-volume battery plants. It acquired Canadian battery manufacturing companies including Hibar Systems to help with this objective.Elon Musk’s response to wavering demand and recession risk is pretty clear: slash prices, keep increasing capacity and try to continue growing even if it means sacrificing profit margin in the short term. To date, Elon Musk's electric vehicle company has mostly relied on Panasonic and other vendors including CATL in China, for battery cells that go into their cars' high-voltage battery packs, and into the company's energy storage systems for home, commercial and grid-scale installations.īut Tesla has also been working to produce and commercially use its own 4680 battery cells. The governor's office and Panasonic did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The cost of battery materials is rising with inflation, increased electric vehicle production, and supply chain complications exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic and Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine.Ī local news outlet, the Kansas City Star, previously reported that Panasonic may locate its new factory, which is expected to employ around 4,000 people, at a former ammunition factory in De Soto, Kansas. ![]() ![]() The company reported annual vehicle deliveries of 936,172 in 2021, an 87% increase from 2020. Tesla 's appetite for battery cells is increasing along with its ambitions to ramp up vehicle production at new factories near Austin, Texas, and Berlin. That sprawling facility was slow to achieve profitability due to high defect rates and slower-than-anticipated mass production, Nikkei reported, but it became profitable in 2021. Panasonic previously invested in and jointly operates a battery factory with Tesla in Sparks, Nevada, outside of Reno, known as the Gigafactory (or Gigafactory 1). Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit ![]()
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