Panasonic to increase production of EV batteries for Tesla - investing over 10 billion yen

 Recently Nihon Keizai Shimbun electronic version reported the following:

パナソニック、テスラ向けEV電池増産　100億円超投資

【イブニングスクープ】

エレクトロニクス 関西 大阪

2020/8/19 18:00 (2020/8/20 0:25更新)日本経済新聞　電子版

パナソニックは2021年に、米テスラの電気自動車（EV）向け電池の生産能力を増強する。百数十億円を投じ、米国の電池工場に追加の組み立てラインをつくる。テスラの主力車「モデル3」の拡販や、新型車の生産増に対応する。電池増産は2社の戦略の相違もあり19年春に凍結となったが、車の販売が上向いたことで再開に踏み切る。

テスラと共同運営する米ネバダ州の電池工場「ギガファクトリー1」の能力を高める。現在13あるラインに、生産効率の高い新ラインを1つ加える。生産能力は1割増の年約39ギガワット時になるもよう。17年に電池生産を始めてから初の増産投資となる。9月からは電池についても、1本当たりの電気を蓄える量が5%多いものに刷新する。

テスラのEVは新型コロナウイルス下でもモデル3の販売が堅調で、新型多目的スポーツ車（SUV）「モデルY」の量産も近く本格化する。19年11月に発表したピックアップトラック「サイバートラック」の予約も増えている。

車載電池の需要が急速に高まるなか、テスラのイーロン・マスク最高経営責任者（CEO）は7月22日の決算発表で「安価な電池の生産が成長には不可欠だ」と述べていた。

ギガファクトリーを巡っては、パナソニックはテスラと18年に生産能力を5割増やす大規模な増産投資を検討したが、モデル3の量産立ち上げに手間取り、先行きを見極めるために凍結した。

当時はマスクCEOがツイッターに「電池供給が『モデル3』増産の制約だ」と投稿し、電池生産のペースが遅いことに不満を表明。意見が2社で食い違った。現在はテスラの販売や業績が堅調で、パナソニック幹部は「投資を迷う局面ではない」としている。

テスラは20年の年間世界販売について前年比36%増の50万台とする計画だ。既存の米カリフォルニア州のほか、テキサス州でも工場を立ち上げる方針で、生産能力は21年中に100万台を超える見通し。車載電池の能力増強は今後も同社の大きな課題になるとみられている。

Translation

In 2021, Panasonic would increase its production capacity of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) in the US Tesla. By investing billions of yen, an additional assembly line at a US battery plant would be built. It would respond to sales expansion of Tesla's flagship model "Model 3", and increase production of new models. The increase in battery production was frozen in the spring of 2019 due to the difference in strategy between the two companies, but it would be resumed as car sales improved.

It enhanced the capacity of "Giga Factory 1", a battery factory in Nevada, jointly operated with Tesla. A new line with high production efficiency could be added to the 13 lines currently in use. The production capacity could be increased by 10% to about 39 GW/hour a year. This was the first investment to increase production since the starting of battery production in 2017. From September, the batteries would be reformed so that the amount of electricity stored in each battery could be 5% higher.

Tesla's EV sales of Model 3 were firm even under the new coronavirus, and mass production of the new multi-purpose sports car (SUV) "Model Y" could soon be in full swing. The number of advance orders for the pickup truck "Cyber ​​Truck" announced in November 2019 was increasing.

As the demand for in-vehicle batteries rose rapidly, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk said in a statement on July 22 that "the production of cheap batteries is essential for growth."

Regarding Giga Factory, Panasonic and Tesla considered a large-scale investment to increase the production capacity as at 2018 by 50%, but it took time to launch the mass production of Model 3, and previously it had been frozen in order to determine its future.

At that time, CEO Musk posted on Twitter that, "About the battery supply it is a constraint on increasing the production of ‘Model 3’," and complained that the pace of battery production was slow. Opinions differed between the two companies. Currently, Tesla's sales and business performance were solid, and Panasonic executives said that "it is not in a phase to hesitate investment ".

Tesla planned to increase its annual global sales for 2020 by 36% to 500,000 units. In addition to the existing one in the California state of the United States, they planned to set up factories in Texas as well, and the production capacity was expected to exceed 1 million units within 2021. The expectation to increase the capacity of in-vehicle batteries would continue to be a major issue for the company.

              So, Tesla is beefing up its electric car production capacity. It seems that it will continue to buy batteries made by Panasonic for cars aiming at the US market, and to buy batteries from companies in China for cars aiming at the China market.