Panasonic Corp. is renovating a facility in Japan to begin testing mass production of a brand new kind of lithium-ion battery that’s championed by Tesla Inc. as the important thing to unlocking cheaper electrical automobiles.
Panasonic will begin test production of a next-generation “4680” battery at a facility in Japan’s western Wakayama Prefecture, Chief Financial Officer Hirokazu Umeda mentioned Wednesday at a briefing on the corporate’s quarterly monetary outcomes.
The firm may even arrange a prototype production line for the batteries early this 12 months in Japan.
After the testing, a brand new mass production line might be arrange, possible additionally in Wakayama, Umeda mentioned.
The CFO made the feedback after Panasonic reported earnings, posting an working revenue of 73bil yen (RM2.67bil) for the not too long ago ended quarter. That fell quick of analysts’ common forecast for 107bil yen (RM3.91bil) as its client electronics enterprise was hit by elevated materials costs.
Shares fell as a lot as 6.7% in Tokyo buying and selling on Thursday.
The 4680 batteries – named after their dimensions of a 46-millimetre diameter and 80-millimetre top – maintain greater than 5 instances the capability of the smaller 1865 and 2170 cells Panasonic at the moment provides to Tesla. This signifies that fewer cells and associated elements are wanted in an EV, which in flip has the potential to decrease its total price.
The 4680 battery was first unveiled by Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief govt officer, at an occasion in 2020. Musk touted the batteries as a “huge breakthrough” in cell expertise that may make it potential for his firm to produce EVs that promote for US$25,000 (RM104,540).
While Tesla plans to make the cells in-house, it has requested Panasonic to start producing them as properly. The Japanese firm has mentioned it’ll search to promote the batteries to EV makers different than simply Tesla.
For now, with regard to 4680 batteries Panasonic is “receiving sturdy requests from Tesla,” Umeda mentioned Wednesday. “We’ll first prioritise supplying Tesla as soon as the verifications are full,” he mentioned.
Analysts had cautioned that the brand new 4680 cells may show tough to mass-produce provided that their measurement can lead to questions of safety reminiscent of overheating. Umeda mentioned Wednesday the corporate’s preliminary exams resulted in a “performance-satisfying prototype” of the brand new cell.
The electronics maker’s choice to designate a home web site for its 4680 cell production comes after it struggled to broaden production on the Gigafactory plant it collectively operates with Tesla in Nevada. The 4680 production web site is shut to Panasonic’s company headquarters in Osaka, permitting it to simply dispatch veteran engineers to fine-tune its equipment.
Battery rivals reminiscent of LG Energy Solution and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. are additionally stepping up funding to beef up their capability.
Compared with different EV battery heavyweights, Panasonic has been sluggish to construct scale, as an alternative touting the protection benefit of its batteries and stressing that it prioritises revenue over market share. – Bloomberg
