Panasonic Holdings Corp. began large-scale EV battery production in the United States in 2015. The Japan-based company established its battery manufacturing facility on a site owned by Tesla Inc. outside of Reno, Nevada, in the rolling hills.
Manufactures two billion battery cells a year
Panasonic spent those years training employees and mobilizing the required machinery for large-scale battery production for electrical vehicles. According to the most recent BNN breaking news, Panasonic’s production lines are running around the clock, producing two billion finger-sized battery cells per year.
Several automakers, enthused by favorable subsidies from the federal government, are taking cues from Panasonic and preparing plans for the batteries’ production in the US. Samsung SDI Co., Honda Motor Co., and General Motors Co. have announced establishing battery manufacturing plants in 2022, with expected investments in the order of several billion dollars.
The slightest exposure to moisture damages the entire lot
Panasonic’s EV battery business head, Yasuaki Takamoto, stated that the production of EV batteries requires a lot of resources that are beyond the imagination of someone in the auto industry. Industry consultants and people working at Panasonic will tell you that early efforts put into building batteries for electric vehicles in the US showed that companies can go awry. Training workers is one of the biggest challenges in battery production. If the batteries are exposed to the slightest moisture in the process, the entire lot is to be thrown out.
Customized equipment for EV battery production is in short supply
The equipment shipped from Asia cannot be used straight away in the American assembly lines in the present safety regulations and operating conditions in the US. You need to supply the equipment customized for use in the US. Such customized equipment for US conditions is in short supply. According to consultants, both automakers and battery makers work jointly with careful planning to ensure meeting deadlines and preventing arguments.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra stated in October that the automaker operates a battery plant in Ohio in collaboration with LG Energy Solution and that slower-than-expected starting would cause the automaker to miss the deadline. It will miss the sales target for EVs in North America until 2023.
In today’s BNN World News, an EVP at Gresham Smith, David Verner, said it is not uncommon for companies that have not worked in the past 15 years on building a large factory to encounter problems. Gresham Smith is designing battery facilities for customers in the United States. David went on to say that this type of outsourcing has been going on for a long time in the United States and that you couldn’t set up several production plants. The skill sets are getting smaller and smaller.
When Panasonic established its battery manufacturing plant in Nevada, it faced several challenges as well as early mover advantages. In the early years of operating Tesla’s Gigafactory, the Japan Company struggled to increase EV battery volumes.
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, sets tough timelines for Panasonic, which is often blamed for delays in the delivery of its vehicles because of a shortage of batteries. The joint factory made losses in the initial years before turning around and posting profits in 2019. It has recently performed well, assisting Tesla in posting record revenues.