Photo: Reuters
Japan-based Panasonic Corp. is reportedly seeking to acquire land in the United States for a huge factory to manufacture a new kind of electric vehicle battery for Tesla Inc., according to reports from Japanese broadcaster NHK on Friday.
Panasonic is looking to establish the factory, costing a few billion dollars, in Oklahoma or Kansas for their closeness to Texas, where Tesla is constructing a new EV factory, said NHK.
NHK did not specify the timeline for Panasonic’s US project, nor did they cite the source of its information. On the other hand, Panasonic stated that the rumored plan was not a piece of information they disclosed.
The multinational conglomerate company has established a long-standing relationship with Tesla as a supplier. It has already revealed plans to start mass production of the new lithium-ion battery for Tesla before the end of March 2024. It comes with two brand-new assembly lines at its western Japanese factory in Wakayama.
The battery of 4680 formats, with a width of 46 millimeters and length of 80 millimeters, is approximately five times larger than those supplied to Tesla now. Therefore, it implies a lower production cost to the US electric vehicle manufacturer.
The brand new powerpack is expected to upgrade the vehicle range.
