KINOKAWA, Japan, Sept 9 (Askume) – Japan’s Tesla (TSLA.O) supplier Panasonic Energy said on Monday it has completed preparations for mass production of large-capacity electric vehicle batteries and expects to start supplying battery makers with batteries for cars.
Panasonic Energy’s renovated factory in Wakayama, a western prefecture, will serve as the main plant for producing the 4680 cells, which the company says have five times the capacity of its smaller 2170 cylindrical cells.
A Panasonic spokesman said the Panasonic Holdings (6752.T) unit
has sent samples of the 4680 batteries to some of its supplier automakers and intends to start production once it receives customer approval.
Earlier, the company said it planned to start producing 4680 batteries at the Wakayama plant, which previously produced automotive battery parts, and planned to begin production in the first half of the fiscal year starting in April.
The larger cells, 46 mm in diameter and 80 mm in height, will allow automakers to increase the driving range of electric vehicles and use fewer cells to achieve the same battery pack capacity, Panasonic Energy said in a statement.
After years of delays and production difficulties, Tesla will begin deliveries of the Cybertruck in November 2023.
Although the automaker has begun production of its 4,680 cells in late 2023, one of the main hurdles for the truck is the pace of production, sources told Askume.
Panasonic, one of Tesla’s longtime battery suppliers, is currently building a second U.S. battery factory in Kansas to begin production next year, and also has a factory under construction in Nevada.
Panasonic Energy held a ceremony to mark the completion of preparations for mass production of the battery and showed an inspection line where pallets filled with silver batteries could be seen.
Chief Executive Kazuo Tadanobu told reporters after the ceremony that the company plans to start producing batteries with an annual capacity of several gigawatt hours. He said the global electric vehicle market is likely to expand in the medium to long term.
The company said it expects to hire about 400 workers at the Wakayama plant by March 2025 to develop and produce new batteries and will serve as a site for testing processes used in other batteries worldwide.
Panasonic Energy already produces 2170 and 1860 cylindrical electric vehicle batteries at its Sumui and Kaizuka plants in Japan.
Battery maker and automaker Subaru (7270.T), whose main market is the United States, said last week it would set up a factory in Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo, to supply car batteries from fiscal 2028 .
