Panasonic to add new battery production line at Tesla Gigafactory Nevada

Panasonic said that it will add a new battery cell production line at Tesla Gigafactory Nevada to increase production by about 10%.

Gigafactory Nevada is a project owned by Tesla, but Panasonic has battery cell production within the project.

The Japanese manufacturer produces 2170 cells for all of Tesla’s vehicle programs.

When originally announcing the plan for the factory, Tesla was talking about the plant producing 105 GWh of battery cells per year and 150 GWh of battery packs per year once completed.

It was supposed to become the largest building in the world.

However, the factory is currently about 30% complete, and Tesla hasn’t expanded the facility for years as both the automaker and Panasonic have focused on optimizing the current production capacity.

Late last year, Electrek reported that Tesla finally planned to expand the factory for the first time in years.

A few months later, Tesla announced that it would add Tesla Semi and 4680 cell production at Gigafactory Nevada.

Now we learn that Panasonic is also expanding at the Gigafactory Nevada with a new 15th battery cell production line, according to a new report from Nikkei Asia.

In the report, Nikkei says that Tesla suggested the expansion to Panasonic:

The company has accelerated plans to increase battery production capacity, responding to pressure from the American EV maker. Tesla recently told Panasonic that it would “buy as much as [Panasonic] can make,” according to an executive at the Japanese manufacturer, hinting at Tesla’s scramble to secure batteries in the increasingly competitive EV industry.

This new project is going to add to Panasonic’s growing battery cell production capacity in the US.

Last year, Panasonic announced plans to build a new battery cell factory in Kansas to supply Tesla with more battery cells.

While it hasn’t brought the Kansas factory to production yet, Panasonic is reportedly already looking for a site for another factory in North America.