According to Nikkei Asian Review Tesla has received a $100 million investment from Panasonic to increase battery production at the automaker’s Gigafactory 1 manufacturing facility in Sparks, Nevada.
Eva Fox of the Tesmanian.com reports that Panasonic's Tesla investment will be made in Gigafactory 1, a battery plant in Nevada that currently has 13 production lines. Panasonic plans to add yet another line, increasing capacity by 10% to 39 gigawatt-hours per year, Nikkei reported.
If the Panasonic-Tesla batteries are already considered to be the densest in terms of energy, they are about to be further improved.
Among the models using this type of battery, there is already the Model 3 and Model Y as well as in the future, the Cybertruck, and the Tesla Semi. This development could be adapted to the Model S and Model X batteries, using smaller 18650 type cells.
Joey Klender from Teslarati concludes that "Tesla’s increase in battery production has contributed to the drop in pricing for its cars. As cell manufacturing continues to increase, electric vehicles will begin to reach price parity with gas-powered automobiles."
"Demand for Tesla’s EVs has led to the company expanding its production facilities to the already functioning Giga Shanghai in China and the under-construction Giga Berlin in Germany. In the United States, Tesla announced during its Q2 Earnings Call that it would be building a new plant in Austin, Texas, which would handle vehicle production for customers in the Eastern half of North America," Joey writes in today's edition of Teslarati.
We should know more on Tesla batteries on September 22 during Tesla's Battery Day.
Armen Hareyan is the founder and the Editor in Chief of Torque News. He founded TorqueNews.com in 2010, which since then has been publishing expert news and analysis about the automotive industry. He can be reached at Torque News Twitter, Facebok, Linkedin and Youtube.