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I found some of the business arrangements interesting, though maybe not surprising. I think those are the real new details of this release. First, they'll be

I found some of the business arrangements interesting, though maybe not surprising. I think those are the real new details of this release. First, they'll be producing 50GwH of packs, but only 35GwH of cells; so they'll still be dependent on external cell manufacturing for a sizable portion of the packs. Second, that it sounds like Panasonic will basically own and run the cell part of the factory; as opposed to Tesla or a joint venture purchasing the equipment and making the cells themselves.

centizen 12y ago
Panasonic already has one of the largest production complexes in the world for battery production; but with the huge demand from Tesla they have had a hard time keeping up with the market. I see this as a way for them to scale up to a capacity that can handle Tesla's orders while still being able to produce 18650 cells for the rest of the electronics market. Over the past few months I (and many others) have had a very hard time getting a reliable supply of the NCR18650B cells Tesla is using in their packs. I don't see Panasonic wanting to give up any of the control it has over this sector. The agreement is probably positioned to obligate Tesla to purchase X amount of cells a year to make the new gigafactory economically feasible for Panasonic.