Panasonic plans to expand production of electric vehicle (EV) batteries by 10 percent within three years at its factory in Nevada jointly operated with Tesla.
Panasonic Energy would install a 15th production line at Gigafactory Nevada, Nikkei Asia report said.
Panasonic Energy announced the plan to increase the Nevada factory’s production capacity by 10 percent by March 2026 at a business strategy meeting last week, a Panasonic Group spokesperson said, declining to comment further.
Panasonic said last month it planned to build at least two new factories for the production of Tesla 4680 battery cells in North America by 2030. With that move, it seeks to boost its auto battery capacity to 200 gigawatt hours per year by March 2031, about four times its level at the end of this March.
At the time, Panasonic had not disclosed where in North America it would add the production capacity.
Panasonic is running a pilot 4680 production line at its Wakayama factory in Japan, while Tesla is already producing the 4680 battery cells, which Musk has touted as being key to making cheaper and compelling electric cars.