According to a new SEC filing, Tesla and Panasonic are joining forces yet again, this time on a new battery cell. With Tesla’s ambitious expansion goals, the automaker has been busy trying to secure as much battery supply from manufacturers as possible.
Tesla released a new SEC filing early Monday morning that confirmed they signed a new “2021 Pricing Agreement” with Panasonic last week: “On December 29, 2020, Tesla, Inc. and Tesla Motors Netherlands B.V. (together, “Tesla”) and Panasonic Corporation of North America and Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (together, “Panasonic”) entered into a 2021 Pricing Agreement (Japan Cells) (the “Agreement”), effective as of October 1, 2020 until March 31, 2022, relating to the supply by Panasonic of lithium-ion battery cells manufactured by Panasonic in Japan. The Agreement is subject to the Supply Agreement between Tesla and Panasonic (and/or their respective affiliates) dated October 5, 2011, as amended, and sets forth, among other things, specific terms with respect to pricing, production capacity commitments, purchase volume commitments and planned investments over the term of the Agreement.”
Not many details have been released, but we do know that the deal is for battery cells from Japan. Tesla and Panasonic have been working side by side practically since Tesla began producing EVs over a decade ago. Panasonic has supplied Tesla with battery cells from Japan for Model S and Model X programs in the past, and the company recently revealed its plans to produce improved performance battery cells for the EV giant.
However, the pairs partnership wasn’t all butterflies and rainbows. With Tesla announcing its plans to make its own batteries, Panasonic not reaching expected production goals at Gigafactory Nevada, and disagreements regarding pricing for the battery cells produced at the factory, the duo has seen its fair share of grievances.
However, the two seemed to have sorted things out as Tesla is continuing to move forward with its plan to build its own battery cells, and recent reports suggest that Panasonic is slated to build a version of the Tesla designed cell.