Expected completion by 2028…Up to 4 times the local production capacity
Japan’s Panasonic Corporation is building a new large-scale battery plant comprising hundreds of gigawatts (GWh) in the United States. Panasonic is the third company to build a large-scale plant in the US, following LG Energy Solution and SK On.
Panasonic’s new plant will be built exclusively for the ‘4680 battery’ that is supplied solely to Tesla. The corporation’s decision to liquidate many existing clients in favor of going all-in on Tesla is becoming clearer.
Panasonic recently announced that it will complete the construction of a new battery plant in the US by 2028. It is known that Kansas and Oklahoma are likely to be the sites for the plant.
Through the new battery plant, Panasonic plans to triple its current annual production capacity of 40-50 GWh in the US by three to four times. The annual production capacity will be increased to a maximum of 200 GWh. In 2025, LG Energy Solution and SK On are expected to produce 215 GWh and 151 GWh in North America, respectively. According to this prospect, the completion date of the new battery plant site is somewhat delayed, but the annual production capacity is expected to be similar.
For the first time among Tesla battery partners, Panasonic revealed earlier this month that it had completed the prototype of the ‘4680 battery,’ a cylindrical medium-large battery, and delivered it to Tesla.
The 4680-battery cell contains about five times the energy capacity of the battery currently supplied by Panasonic (standard 21700), so it is expected to help Tesla reduce production costs and extend the mileage.
Since 2009, Panasonic has produced 4.6 billion small cylindrical batteries for electric vehicles (standard 18650) and 5.5 billion small cells with 21700 specifications. This is equivalent to the amount of batteries used in 1.7 million electric vehicles.
Panasonic has supplied batteries to Tesla for about 10 years. It has maintained Tesla’s exclusive battery supplier status until 2018 and is supplying batteries with LG Energy Solutions and CATL as the quantity of Tesla’s electric vehicles is increasing.
Panasonic plans to initially produce ‘4680 batteries’ at its Wakayama plant in Japan (annual production capacity of 10 GWh) from March to April next year and provide it to Tesla. As it is difficult to meet battery demand with only Panasonic’s supply, LG Energy Solutions and other companies are expected to confirm the supply of ‘4680 batteries’ with Tesla within this year.
In a recent company briefing session, Panasonic Corporation announced that it would invest 600 billion yen ($4.9 billion) over the next three years by selecting automotive batteries, supply chain software, and air conditioners as key growth engines.
By Staff Reporter Taejun Kim gaius@etnews.com