Panasonic Works To Develop New Battery Cell To Meet Tesla's Needs

During its battery day, Tesla Inc TSLA announced a new style of battery cell. The new 4680 cells would allow Tesla to produce cells that were more energy-dense, safer and ultimately reduce costs up to 56%.

Now, Panasonic Corporation PCRFY has revealed it will be working to make a new battery cell based on Tesla's revealed prototype.

"We have considerable know-how for that battery," said Panasonic CFO Hirokazu Umeda. "We started working on it immediately after Tesla's Battery Day and are also preparing to set up a prototype production line in parallel."

Umeda added Panasonic will launch additional production capacity at Gigafacotry Nevada next year.

Benzinga's Take: It seems Panasonic doesn't want to be left behind once Tesla starts producing its own cells. As of now, Tesla heavily relies on its partnership with Panasonic, but as EV sales grow, Panasonic's share of battery production will be less and less meaningful if they're not producing the cells Tesla wants. Tesla will be cell constrained for the foreseeable future, and the company will most likely buy all the batteries it can going forward.

Photo courtesy of Tesla.