Tesla (TSLA) recently presented plans to produce its own battery cells called ‘4680’, but now we have found that Panasonic will also produce the new cell for them, according to a new report.
Although Tesla has worked on its own battery cell chemistry for years, it has always worked with experienced battery cell manufacturers to produce them while focusing on the manufacture of battery modules and packages.
Panasonic has been Tesla’s main partner when it comes to supplying battery cells, but the company has also used LG Chem and CATL more recently.
At its ‘Battery Day’ event in September, the automaker announced a long-awaited change in its strategy.
It has revealed a new tabless battery cell in a larger format with new chemistry and plans to produce it with in-house designed production machinery.
However, CEO Elon Musk also made it clear at the event that Tesla would still continue to use battery manufacturers and buy as much battery cell supplies as they can get to support the ambitious growth plan.
But the CEO did not say whether battery manufacturers would produce Tesla’s new battery cell or whether they would continue to buy cells in the current 2170 and 18650 formats, which all of their electric vehicles still use.
Now Nikkei Asia, an Asian-based business newspaper, reports that Panasonic is working on building production lines to produce prototypes of Tesla’s 4680 battery cells at its existing facilities:
“Panasonic will set up a prototype production line at existing facilities. The cost of the project is expected to reach tens of millions of dollars. “
The publication reports that production of the prototype cells would begin next year and could lead to a new supply agreement with Tesla.
Currently, the new cells are being produced only at a pilot plant in Fremont, but Tesla is already working in large-scale factories to produce the batteries at Gigafactory Berlin and elsewhere.
Electrek’s Take
This is an interesting development.
On Battery Day, Elon made it clear that Tesla would still buy battery cells from other suppliers, even after establishing its own battery production.
However, he did not make it clear that these other suppliers would make 4680 cells, since the new table design and various cell components required Tesla to design new manufacturing processes.
While it makes sense considering all the benefits of the new format, we also know that it will take some time for Tesla to change all of its vehicle programs to the new format.
Interestingly, in addition to Panasonic, we also recently reported on LG Chem talking about producing new battery cells that looked a lot like Tesla’s 4680s, but never mentioned the automaker.
If multiple battery suppliers start producing these cells for Tesla, we could see a real shift in the industry to this new format.
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