Panasonic, Tesla reach agreement to expand supply of battery cells

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Panasonic Corp and Tesla Motors on Wednesday announced that the two companies have reached an agreement in which Panasonic will expand its supply of automotive‐grade lithium‐ion battery cells to Tesla. With this agreement, the two companies update and expand their 2011 arrangement to now supply nearly 2 billion cells over the course of fournyears.

The lithium‐ion battery cells purchased from Panasonic will be used to power the award-winning Model S as well as Model X, a performance utility vehicle that is scheduled to go into production by the end of 2014.

This agreement builds upon a multi‐year collaboration between Panasonic and Tesla to develop next-generationnautomotive‐grade battery cells and accelerate the market expansion of electric vehicles. Panasonic’s cells combined with Tesla’s proven EV battery expertise have already enabled more than 130 million customer miles driven in Tesla Roadsters and Model S.

“This expanded agreement with Panasonic is important to Tesla as we continue to increase the pace of production,” said Tesla Co‐Founder and CEO Elon Musk. “We look forward to strengthening our relationship with Panasonic, and I’m confident that this partnership will continue to be an integral part of Tesla’s success for years to come.”