The Japanese company is said to be aiming to become the top producer of automotive batteries by 2019, despite stiff competition from rivals Samsung and LG. Partnerships with Tesla are expected to play a central role in achieving the goal, with an agreement to supply the US startup with nearly two billion battery cells through 2017.
Tesla has expected the gigafactory to require approximately $5 billion in total investment, though Panasonic is cautious about its own monetary contributions as the project gets started.
“As we’re not anticipating any sudden tenfold increases in demand or anything like that, we think it is right to break it up step-by-step and invest gradually,” said Yoshio Ito, Panasonic’s senior managing executive officer and president of its automotive division, as quoted by Reuters.
Tesla intends to break ground at two sites to avoid any delays caused by unforeseen issues, with production scheduled to begin by 2017 and eventually ramp up to build batteries for a half million vehicles annually.
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