Panasonic’s investment will focus on producing the new 4680 battery cells, a new battery developed for especially for Tesla. Panasonic presented a prototype for these batteries in octombrie 2021, and the main beenefit of the new batteries is the fact they will help Tesla reduce the production costs.

Acording to CleanTechnica, citing Nikkei Asia, once completed, the factory will be capable of producing about 10 gigawatt-hours per year of the new batteries, enough to power about 150,000 electric vehicles.

The 4680 batteries cost 10% to 20% less to manufacture and have about a 15% higher energy density than the lithium-ion batteries that Tesla has been so far.

The extra energy density means a Tesla Model S would have a range of 750 kilometers, versus 650 kilometers today.

Panasonic officials say that in the first months of 2023 we should see the first batteries coming out of the new manufacturing capacity in Japan.