The "standard cell" would be without protection in the first place. It's not like the batteries materialize out the ether with protection circuits which are the

The "standard cell" would be without protection in the first place. It's not like the batteries materialize out the ether with protection circuits which are then removed for Tesla: the basic product Panasonic sells are the bare cells. On top of those bare cells, third parties may add protection circuits, or maybe Panasonic does it themselves in some cases.