Tesla Inc (TSLA) Signs New Panasonic Deal For Battery Supplies

By Amit Chowdhry • Jun 17, 2020
  • Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) announced it signed a new three-year deal with Panasonic for the battery supply from the Gigafactory Nevada facility

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) announced it signed a new three-year deal with Panasonic for the battery supply from the Gigafactory Nevada facility. The Gigafactory 1 facility in Nevada is one of the largest lithium-ion battery factories, but Tesla recently said that Panasonic’s battery cell production was causing bottlenecks with Model 3 deliveries. And now Tesla is reportedly developing plans to build its own batteries.

Initially, Panasonic had invested $1.6 billion in the factory in order to reach a cell production capacity of 35GWh. And while the specifics of the deal were not revealed, there seem to be hints of Panasonic will be investing more into the Gigafactory.

“On June 10, 2020, Tesla and Panasonic also entered into the 2020 Pricing Agreement (Gigafactory 2170 Cells) (the ‘Agreement’), effective as of April 1, 2020 until March 31, 2023, relating to the manufacture and supply by Panasonic of lithium-ion battery cells at Gigafactory Nevada. The Agreement is subject to the 2020 [General Terms and Conditions] and, among other things, sets forth the specific terms between the parties with respect to pricing, planned investments and new technology, as well as production capacity commitments by Panasonic and purchase volume commitments by Tesla over the first two years of the Agreement,” said Tesla in a Form 8-K.

And Tesla and Panasonic also entered into other previously disclosed agreements relating to the production and supply of lithium-ion battery cells.

China Car Registrations Up 150% In May

It was also reported that Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) China car registration in May increased 150% month-over-month. This was based on data compiled by auto consulting company LMC Automotive. The registration in China were 11,565 compared to 4,633 in April.