Panasonic announced on Monday it will begin mass production of Tesla’s 4680 battery cell before the end of March 2024.
The company said the new cells will be produced at its Wakayama factory in western Japan, reports Reuters.
As we have previously reported, Panasonic is currently spending around 80 billion yen ($704 million) to expand production at the facility.
The new timeline is a slight delay compared to the one provided by Panasonic last month, which stated that initial low volume production will begin in 2022 to iron out any kinks ahead of mass production in 2023.
Panasonic unveiled their first 4680 cell prototype in October last year in Tokyo, Japan. The Japanese electronics maker has been working on developing a prototype of the cell since the new form factor was announced at Battery Day in 2020.
Tesla announced this month it had produced 1 million 4680 battery cells at its Kato Rd facility in California to support the production ramp at Giga Texas.
Cell production equipment has been installed at the factory, which is expected to start delivering Model Ys with the new cells inside structural battery packs next month.
First Giga Texas VIN assigned to Model Y Performance reservation holder with March delivery date
