Panasonic presents first battery to Tesla

SUMINOE, JAPAN - Tesla officials recently visited Panasonics new Lithiumion battery cell manufacturing facility in Suminoe, Japan, and while there, Panasonic Energy Company President Naoto Noguchi presented Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel with the first production Lithiumion cells manufactured at the new facility.

The Suminoe factory will start producing 3.1Ah battery cells, the highest energy density cells available in the market. The facility will produce more than 300 million cells per year.

These cuttingedge Panasonic batteries will combine with Teslas battery pack technology to produce the highestenergy density EV battery packs in the world, says Straubel.

Tesla also announced that for the first time Tesla Roadsters will be delivered to select customers in Japan.

Tesla has already delivered more than 1,000 Roadsters to customers in North America and Europe. Tesla battery packs power the Roadster, the only highwaycapable EV currently in mass production, the company states.

Tesla is also in production of battery packs for the Daimler Smart EVs and in battery development programs with other vehicle and stationary customers. For next generation battery packs, Tesla and Panasonic continue to deepen their relationship to optimize EV cells initially announced in January.