Tesla Gigafactory 1 could grow as partner Panasonic reports more profits
The Gigafactory is currently said to be overloaded.
Tesla
Tesla didn’t just pull one Profit in the first quarter of 2020, but its battery partner Panasonic said Monday that its battery business was also in the black for the second time. Now Nevada-based Gigafactory 1 could see an expansion.
Reuters reported for the first time in the first quarter on the possible capacity expansion at the plant. Hirokazu Umeda, Panasonic’s chief financial officer, said the company was “in talks” to expand work at the facility. Although the company is no longer the exclusive battery provider of Tesla (the company works with LG Chem in China), the partnership has developed in recent years and has seen two profitable quarters.
The general demand for Tesla’s cars has probably helped drive the battery business into a profitable area. Umeda mentioned the demand exceeds the current capacity of 35 gigawatts per year.
Panasonic did not return a request for comment on capacity expansion at the Gigafactory, nor did Tesla.
The executive also seemed to be proposing new batteries for Tesla vehicles in the pipeline, which has recently become a hot topic. Reports appeared last week suggesting that Tesla “Million-mile battery“could debut shortly before launch in China. The longer life battery would not consume cobalt and would be cheaper to manufacture, which could potentially result in electric vehicles being equivalent to gasoline powered vehicles. A version for North America was also mentioned.
However, the work on this battery supposedly took place with China’s CATL, not with Panasonic. However, there is always the possibility of further battery breakthroughs.
Look at that:
Tesla Gigafactory Tour
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