Panasonic will begin mass production of a new lithium-ion battery, the 4680.
A few days ago, China's Panasonic network learned that Japan's Panasonic has decided to expand the Wakayama plant in 2022, invest 80 billion yen (about 705 million US dollars), and start mass production of 4680 batteries for Tesla by 2023.
It is understood that this factory may provide batteries for Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory Model Y, and will also supply Tesla's Gigafactories in other regions of the world. At this stage, the annual production capacity of the Wakayama plant is still under design, and it is expected to be about 10GWh per year, which is equivalent to powering 150,000 electric vehicles. According to this calculation, the Wakayama plant accounts for about 20% of Panasonic's current battery production capacity.
Panasonic plans to start some work at the Wakayama plant in 2022 to create a safer and more efficient production environment for mass production in 2023. In addition, Panasonic plans to further expand mass production at plants in the United States or other countries.
In September 2020, Tesla officially launched a new electrodeless ear 4680 battery, the new product can effectively reduce the cost of the battery, and the energy density is 5 times higher than the current Model 3 and Model Y 2170 batteries, and the power capacity is increased by 6 times. In addition, when installed in Tesla motors, it can increase its mileage by 16% and increase its power by 6 times.
Musk said Tesla already has plans to make its own batteries, but will also continue to source from Panasonic or other power battery manufacturers. Affected by the battery design and manufacturing process, there are still three years to wait for full production, according to time calculations, 2023 should be Tesla's fastest production time, as of now, there is still no more news to the outside world.
At this stage, Tesla mainly relies on power battery manufacturers such as Panasonic, LG Chemical, and Cataltime to provide batteries, while 4680 batteries, only Panasonic is currently the only battery supplier announced to the public. Previously, the shortage of Panasonic batteries affected the increase of Tesla's production capacity, so Musk "shelled" Panasonic, saying that its slowdown in factory operations was the culprit that limited the capacity of Model 3.
At the time, Tesla Gigafactory's goal was to achieve an annual battery capacity of 35GWh by 2020, while Panasonic's operating capacity was only 24GWh, two-thirds of its target capacity. For Musk, who pursues extreme production capacity, such a gap is difficult to tolerate.
As an important partner of Tesla, Panasonic is mainly responsible for the production of cylindrical lithium-ion batteries, and although Musk has a lot of criticism of it, its 4680 battery still relies on Panasonic for production.
In October 2020, Panasonic announced the Tesla 4680 battery prototype, the product size diameter of 46mm, the length of 80mm, which is also the origin of the battery model name 4680, its size is about 5 times the size of the battery tesla currently uses.
In the third quarter of the year, Tesla had predicted that in 2022, it may launch an electric car equipped with a 4680 battery, and at present, due to many factors, this goal will be postponed to 2023.
As Tesla's main supplier, Panasonic's battery business is also closely related to this "top customer". In fiscal 2018, panasonic battery business had an operating loss of more than 20 billion yen, and in fiscal 2019, Panasonic Battery Division lost 46.6 billion yen, and it was not until fiscal year 2020 that the operating profit of the division turned positive to 10.9 billion yen. Panasonic Chief Financial Officer and CFO Hirokazu Umeda revealed that the reason why the battery division achieved profitability in fiscal 2020 is closely related to the positive net profit of Tesla's related business.
But the multinational, which has a history of more than 100 years, is still worried about Tesla's sales prospects, and Tesla is also seeking new supply cooperation such as CATL. LG New Energy has previously reported that its 4680 battery cell trial production line has begun construction in 2021, assembly and plating equipment has also been installed, and it may be expected to complete this pilot production line before Panasonic mass production of 4680 batteries, and it is planned to achieve mass production as early as 2023.
At the same time, Samsung SDI also sent out the news of the development of 4680 batteries, intending to join the war for Tesla. In the domestic market, suppliers such as BAK Battery, Ewell Lithium Energy, Penghui Energy, and Times United are also developing in the direction of large cylindrical batteries. The above companies will become potential competitors of Panasonic, and Tesla is also building its own battery factory, according to the plan, Tesla will achieve 100GWh of battery production capacity in 2022, and by 2030, this number will climb to 3TWh.
As one of the core components of new energy vehicles, car companies and suppliers are aware of the importance of power batteries, and the competition in the future will be more intense. As for how Panasonic and Tesla, two companies that have been working together for more than 10 years, will develop, the supply of new batteries may play an important role.