To meet its goal of a significant increase in the yearly capacity of batteries for electric vehicles by 2031, the battery division of Japan’s Panasonic would need to construct four more plants, its technology leader told Reuters. The Tesla supplier’s first concrete estimate of the number of additional factories it will require comes from Shoichiro Watanabe of Panasonic Energy in his remarks.
They might also raise hopes for increased Japanese investment in the US following a March agreement between the two nations that opened up greater U.S. electric vehicle tax credits for Japanese automakers. By early 2031, Panasonic Energy stated in May, it expected to increase annual EV capacity to 200 gigawatt hours, or almost four times that of March of the current year.
It already has a plant in Nevada, and it is now building a second one in Kansas, which once operational is anticipated to increase annual capacity to 80 GWh.
The company’s chief technical officer, Watanabe, stated in an interview at its headquarters in Osaka on Friday that “we will need to build around another four factories.” He didn’t, however, go into detail about specific places, times, or investment amounts.
The changing nature of such projects, in which investment is no longer solely borne by battery makers, led him to indicate his openness to prospective joint ventures for the production of EV batteries, with the automaker Mazda Motor among others.
According to him, 200 GWh capacity is the bare minimum required to be a significant participant. “The style where battery producers will make all investments is disappearing,” he stated.
Panasonic’s focus on North America
Panasonic has stated that it is concentrating on North America to increase production capacity for 4680 batteries, the newest cells supported by Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk. It had stated that by 2030, it intended to erect at least two new plants in North America for the manufacturing of the 4680. Oklahoma has been proposed as a potential location.
According to Watanabe, a battery supply chain based on the idea of “local production for local consumption” will need to support the four new facilities with approximately a dozen factories of materials suppliers.
He added that taking into account tax advantages provided by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the requirement to reduce carbon footprint could lead to joint procurement with significant clients. Makers of the materials used in the batteries will also need to decide on their strategies as soon as possible, he said, given the amount of investment necessary.
In the context of a supply agreement the two companies are negotiating, Watanabe stated that Panasonic would not completely rule out the idea of a joint battery venture with Mazda.
An agreement to supply Mazda with cylindrical lithium-ion batteries made in Japan and North America was announced last month by the companies. They hope to approve it this year and anticipate providing batteries around 2025.
