According to a new report coming out of Japan, Tesla Gigafactory Nevada will receive a new battery cell production line in addition to a new $100 million investment from Panasonic.
A business publication in Japan called Nikkei, who follows Panasonic quite closely wrote today “The investment will be made in Gigafactory 1, a battery plant in the U.S. state of Nevada with 13 production lines. Panasonic will add another line, increasing capacity by 10% to 39 gigawatt-hours per year.”
In addition, Nikkei noted that Panasonic plans to improve the energy capacity of the cells by 5% stating “This is the first capacity expansion at Gigafactory since it opened in 2017. Panasonic is also upgrading the batteries being produced at Gigafactory, raising each battery’s storage capacity by 5%, starting in September.”
With Tesla’s Battery Day getting closer, the September timeline for the upgrade seems convenient. It also lines up well with comments that Panasonic executive in charge of Tesla battery business in the U.S., Yasuaki Takamota, made during a recent interview with Reuters saying “Panasonic Corp plans to boost the energy density of “2170” battery cells it supplies to Tesla Inc by 20% in five years and commercialize a cobalt-free version “in two to three years”, the head of its U.S. EV battery business said.”