Panasonic has announced that it is delaying commercial production of Tesla’s 4680 battery cells. The company revealed on Wednesday that it will begin operations a year later than originally planned, between April and September 2024, rather than between April 2023 and March 2024.
According to Panasonic the delay will allow them additional time to enhance the performance of the cells to further increase competitiveness. The company announced the delay in its quarterly financial report release on Wednesday. (via Reuters)
Panasonic has been working with Tesla to produce their 4680 battery cells since they were first announced at Battery Day in 2020. About a year later the tech giant said it was planning to launch trial production of the 4680 cell in Japan by March 2022 after developing a pilot production line.
While Panasonic is seeing a delay in production, Tesla is already producing the 4680 battery cells at its Kato Rd facility in California, as well as in Austin at Giga Texas. Tesla also plans to add more production capacity with a dedicated 4680 production line at Giga Nevada as part of the factory’s $3.6 billion expansion.
Currently the 4680 cells that are being produced by Tesla are only being used in one variant of the Model Y. It is expected that the Cybertruck, which should enter production later this summer, will also feature 4680 cells.
Tesla’s new 4680 tabless battery cell increases range, energy, and power
