Mazda has begun discussions with Panasonic to supply cylindrical batteries for future electric vehicles, the two companies announced Wednesday.
The goal of the discussions is to reach an agreement for Panasonic to supply batteries from factories in Japan and North America for Mazda to use in electric vehicles “scheduled for launch in the second half of the 2020 decade,” according to the report. a press release. However, the companies are only talking, there is no firm agreement.
No further details were provided, but the cells supplied from North America will likely come from a new plant in De Soto, Kansas, which has been claimed to be largest battery factory in the world.
Panasonic Cylindrical EV Battery Cell
The relationship between Panasonic and Mazda dates back to 2012, when Panasonic supplied batteries for the Mazda Demio EV, which were leased to customers in Japan in limited quantities. A collaboration at this stage could be more extensive.
Next to MX-30 only available in California, limited quantity, Mazda has no EV in its lineup in the US. That is set to change with a clean EV platform will launch in the second half of this decade, forming the basis for many models to be launched between 2025 and 2030. Mazda said by 2021 it hopes its entire lineup will be electrified. to some extent by 2030, with electric vehicles accounting for 25% of that total.
Hybrid vehicles, including recently launched vehicles 2024 Mazda CX-90 plug-in hybrid and the planned CX-50 hybrid, will close the gap until electric vehicles based on the planned dedicated platform appear.
Mazda MX-30 2022
Mazda pointed out that Longer range EVs are not the future, but the use of cylindrical cells can be more efficient. It’s the selected cell format of lucid and Tesla—two leading EV brands. Tesla is Panasonic’s main EV battery customer; Lucid announced in 2022 that it will also start using Panasonic cells.
However, long-standing automakers have been slower to adopt cylindrical cells. BMW confirmed the change converted to this format for future electric vehicles last year, and General Motors is said to be cylindrical cell crushing for some applications.
Mazda test electric powertrain vs hybrid years ago and concluded that motorists prefer the characteristics of electric vehicles. Instead of seeing it as a sign to speed up electric vehicle development, Mazda has mainly focused on its efforts to improve internal combustion engine performance with interesting but ultimately unsuccessful projects like the SkyActiv engine. -X, uniformly charged compression ignition (HCCI) engine and SkyActiv. -D diesel.
