TOKYO – Japanese Panasonic Holdings Corp, manufacturing company the battery Because Teslais assessing which U.S. state to choose as the site for a new battery plant, a top executive said Friday.
“We’ve looked at various issues, but we’re starting to evaluate,” Panasonic Energy CEO Kazuo Tadanobu told reporters during a roundtable event. He added.
The Japanese conglomerate is looking at potential plant sites in Kansas and Oklahoma to supply batteries to an American electric car factory in Texas, two people familiar with the plans said.
Tadanobu told investors and analysts on Wednesday that the company shipped samples in the more robust ‘4680’ format. tram battery for Tesla.
The 4680 format battery – 46 mm wide and 80 mm high – is about five times larger than the one Panasonic currently offers, meaning the US electric car maker can reduce production costs and increase vehicle operating range.
Panasonic says mass production of the new batteries will begin before the end of March 2024 at its plant in Wakayama, western Japan, before moving production to North America.
The Japanese company has been working with Tesla for more than a decade, supplying batteries for its first cars.
Since then, the electric carmaker has diversified its supply chain and brought in other companies such as Of China Amperex Contemporary Technology (CATL) and LG Energy Solutions of Korea.
(The story corrects the first and second paragraphs to make it clear the company is evaluating options for a future factory.)
(Reported by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and David Dolan)
