Panasonic will invest several billion dollars to build a new high-capacity battery production facility that will be used for Tela electric vehicles, the Nikkei reported on Wednesday.
The report comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he was having difficulty increasing production of a new type of electric vehicle battery, the 4680, which is used in the Model Y electric car made at its Texas plant.
Elon Musk says the Giga Texas and Giga Berlin are moneyboxes that are “losing billions of dollars” due to low production volumes.
Last month, Panasonic was reported to be scouting locations for the construction of battery production facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma to supply the Texas Giga.
Panasonic is aiming to triple or quadruple its electric vehicle battery production capacity by fiscal 2028 from its current level of around 50 gigawatt-hours per year, according to the Nikkei report.
Panasonic has been a supplier to Tesla’s electric vehicles for more than a decade. Panasonic has a factory in Nevada that supplies smaller batteries to Tesla.
Previously they had sent samples of the more powerful 4680 format battery to Tesla. The 4680 format battery is said to have a capacity five times greater than the one currently supplied to Tesla. With these capabilities, the 4680 format battery can reduce production costs and increase vehicle mileage.
