BNR – Panasonic Holdings expects to increase manufacturing of electric car batteries by 10% over the next three years, a company representative said on Tuesday. The expansion will take place at a manufacturing facility in Nevada that is co-operated by Tesla.
The remarks were in response to a Nikkei Asia report published on Monday. According to the report, Panasonic Energy will establish a 15th manufacturing line at Gigafactory Nevada.
Panasonic Energy announced plans to raise manufacturing capacity at its Nevada facility by 10% by March 2026. A spokesperson confirmed the proposal at a corporate strategy meeting last week but declined to elaborate.
A request for comment from Tesla was not returned.
Panasonic To Boost Car Battery Capacity in North America
Panasonic announced last month that it intended to develop at least two new plants in North America to produce Tesla 4680 battery cells by 2030. It hopes to increase its car battery capacity to 200-gigawatt hours per year by March 2031 with this approach. This is around four times what it was at the end of March.
Panasonic did not specify where in North America the production capacity will be added at the time. According to a Panasonic official, Tesla reportedly promised the company that it would buy as much as it [Panasonic] could create.
Panasonic’s Wakayama facility in Japan is running a prototype 4680 production line.
Tesla, on the other hand, has already begun manufacturing the 4680 battery cells. Musk has emphasized the importance of this in producing more affordable and desirable electric vehicles.
