Elon Musk is building a $5 billion dollar factory to produce lithium-ion batteries, and now Panasonic has announced that they will be making an investment in the factory.
Panasonic did not reveal how much they will be investing in the Tesla factory, although according to Reuters, the investment will be between $200 million and $300 million U.S. dollars.
“Given the high degree of interest in the factory in both Japan and the United States, we wanted to show our intent by signing an agreement as soon as possible. But a decision on investment will take a little longer,” he added.
“However, Tesla is a very important partner to us and discussions are continuing. We need to look very carefully at auto demand and respond appropriately so of course that means taking a step-by-step approach to investment,” he added.
Tesla’s Ellon Musk has said that he expected Panasonic to become one of Tesla’s main partners in the new factory, the company has said that when the factory is fully operational, it will be able to produce as many batteries that were made worldwide in 2013.
Tesla has some new vehicles on the way, the Tesla Model X which will go into production this year, and the Tesla Model III which will launch in 2017.
Source Reuters
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