AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/26 Report--

Panasonic will end its cooperation with Tesla on solar cells as Panasonic steps up its efforts to spin off unprofitable businesses, according to the Nikkei News quoted by Reuters on February 26. "both companies believe that solar cell production is no longer possible to increase and it is no longer necessary to continue co-production," the report said. "

Panasonic is Tesla's long-time lithium battery partner and used to be the only lithium battery supplier to Tesla Electric vehicle Factory.

In 2016, Tesla and Panasonic announced the establishment of a solar cell joint venture, with Panasonic bearing part of the equipment cost of the Gigafactory 2 plant.

In 2017, the core components of Tesla's solar panels began production at the Gigafactory 2 plant, and Panasonic's cells were used in Tesla's solar roof. However, Panasonic failed to produce batteries that meet Tesla's solar roof design standards.

In 2019, Tesla launched the latest version of Solar Roof using Chinese-made batteries, while Panasonic's batteries were sold to Japanese homebuilders and other customers.

Panasonic hopes to cut costs by shutting down underutilized production lines, and Tesla also announced partnerships with Ningde Times and LG Chemical, which to some extent coincided in abandoning cooperation.

All the above information indicates that the partnership between Tesla and Panasonic is cooling and that the two sides will end their cooperation in the solar business, but Panasonic is still making lithium batteries for the Tesla plant in Fremont, California.

As we all know, Tesla is not only an electric car company, but also has a solar power system business. According to public data, Tesla's solar business contributed $1.53 billion in 2019, accounting for 6% of Tesla's total income. However, with the expansion and development of the field of electric vehicles, Tesla's business in solar energy has been gradually weakened.

At present, there are mainly two kinds of new energy vehicle batteries, which are lithium iron phosphate battery and ternary lithium battery. Lithium iron phosphate battery does not contain precious metals such as cobalt, and has the advantages of low manufacturing cost and low price. Ternary lithium batteries use cobalt, and the cost is relatively high, while Panasonic has always been a supplier of ternary lithium batteries, which occupies a monopoly position in this field.

At the end of last year, Tesla Shanghai Super Factory was officially completed, and the first domestic Model 3 model is speeding up mass production. However, Tesla failed to "renew its relationship" with Panasonic, which said it would "not build a lithium battery factory for Tesla in China".

In order to meet the demand for battery supply, Tesla successively signed agreements with LG Chemistry and Ningde Times, which will provide lithium battery supply to Tesla Shanghai Super Factory. Industry insiders said that Tesla's cooperation with Ningde era, in addition to reducing the cost of electric vehicles, is largely to get rid of the dependence on Panasonic batteries.

While Tesla is looking for a partner, Panasonic is no exception. Panasonic and Toyota announced on Feb. 3 that they would develop a new generation of electric vehicle batteries, forming Taixing Energy Solutions Co., Ltd. with a stake of 51:49, which is scheduled to start operation in April this year.

However, Panasonic is not Toyota's only battery partner. In the past year, Toyota has also established cooperative relations with Ningde Times, China FAW, GAC GROUP, BYD and other companies in the areas of power batteries, self-driving technology, intelligent network interconnection and pure electric vehicles.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat