Tesla is getting a major increase in charging capacity, with the help of Panasonic’s $100 million investment into Gigafactory Nevada earlier this year. According to Electrek, Panasonic plans to create battery cells at Gigafactory Nevada which offer a 5% increase in energy density, and a 10% increase in total battery output.
Last week, Panasonic announced it would be developing a battery cell based on Tesla’s new 4680 cell structure.
The update, which was shared at the Stanford StorageX International Symposium, also included that Panasonic would continue its steady reduction in cobalt, an important shift away from unethical mining practices throughout the world.
Panasonic has also said it is already converting the production lines at Gigafactory Nevada to support the newly-designed battery cells.
Panasonic said on Thursday it is working to develop a new battery cell for Tesla based on the US electric vehicle maker's new cell format, as the Japanese company moves forward its decade-old partnership with Tesla.Tesla's https://t.co/3KNWnsONB2
— worldtechvalley (@worldtechvalley) October 31, 2020
Celina Mikolajczak, vice president of battery technology at Panasonic North America and previous battery expert at Tesla, said in the talk at Stanford, “Right now we are converting lines to increase energy density. It’s a great new cell that is going to be ready soon.” She continued, “It got excellent fast charge performance with that increased energy density which is really exciting.”
Rates of charge for the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y are already capable of up to 250 kW, but any improvements will obviously still be welcomed by Tesla owners. As the world begins to go all-electric, charging capacity and speeds will make or break the speed at which the world can adapt to zero-emissions vehicles – and the shift couldn’t come soon enough.
