Panasonic producing prismatic batteries in China
Panasonics new battery factory for the serial production and delivery of prismatic lithium-ion battery cells for electric and hybrid vehicles has opened its doors in Dalian, China.
The factory is the first of its kind in China producing the prismatic lithium-ion batteries. They will delivered from Dalian to customers within China, as well as to the USA. Panasonic is eyeing other markets for the future as well.
In April, Panasonic opened their first factory in China. The possibility to construct the factory was provided to the Japanese firm by its 2016 joint venture with Dalian Levear Electric. Panasonic is currently investing intensively into electric vehicle batteries. Beginning of last year, the tech company announced their plan to invest around 1.5 billion euros into the sector.
Panasonic is not the only electronics manufacturer who is producing prismatic battery cells for the use in electric mobility. Samsung is also manufacturing comparable cells, while LG is focusing more on the pouch format. In general, Panasonic is known for its 18650 and 21700 battery cells in a cylindrical format, which are currently used in Tesla, for example. While manufacturers seem to be in agreement on what kind of chemicals make for the best batteries, finding the dominant format seems to be a question of some debate. This caused the Fraunhofer Alliance to begin a study on battery cell formats recently.
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