Photo: Reuters
One of Japan’s largest companies and manufacturers, Panasonic, is reportedly looking to purchase land in the United States for their new factory that will produce batteries specifically for Tesla, says Japanese broadcaster NHK on Friday.
The multinational conglomerate company is looking to establish a factory in Oklahoma or Kansas for their proximity to Texas. Tesla has announced that it will be constructing an electric vehicle plant.
NHK did not specify the timeline for Panasonic’s US project, nor did they cite any source of information. But Panasonic has not announced plans for a US launch and does not consider this information reliable.
The multinational corporation has established a long-standing relationship with Tesla as a supplier. It plans to start mass production of the new lithium-ion battery for Tesla cars by March 2024. It comes with two brand-new assembly lines at its western Japanese factory in Wakayama.
The battery of 4680 formats, with a width of 40mm and length 80 mm, is approximately five times larger than those supplied to Tesla now. Therefore it implies lower production costs for the US electric vehicle manufacturer.
The all-new powerpack is expected to upgrade the vehicle range.