A battery waiting to be installed on the Tesla production line. Panasonic will work with Tesla to build a large battery manufacturing plant.

Based on the New York Times and Reuters news, Tesla Motors (TSLA: NASDAQ) announced on July 31 that it had signed an agreement with Matsushita to build a large battery manufacturing plant in the United States. ,

According to Tesla, the battery factory built in this project will supply batteries for Tesla's all-electric vehicles and also provide products for the fixed storage battery market. The company estimates that the plant, known as the "super factory" and its associated complex, will employ 6,500 people by 2020.

Reuters reported that in its earnings report, Tesla confirmed that there are projects under construction near Renault in Nevada in June, and the land will be used for factory construction, which is expected to be completed in 2017. Tesla's co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) J. B. Straubel said that the construction of the plant "represents the way in which large-scale battery production is achievable, and to some extent A huge change."

He said in a statement, "The super factory not only meets the needs of the Tesla Model 3 model, but also finds a solution to significantly reduce the cost of power storage, and has broad application prospects."

Earlier reports quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Panasonic’s initial investment is 20 billion to 30 billion yen (about 200 million to 300 million US dollars), and the final investment may reach 1 billion US dollars. The total investment of the entire super factory is about $5 billion.

The joint venture company is named after Tesla. In addition to producing batteries, it also “reserves, supplies and manages land, buildings and properties.” Panasonic is responsible for manufacturing and supplying lithium battery components needed to manufacture batteries. Mechanical equipment and tools.

Tesla said that the goal of the construction plant is to reduce the cost of producing automotive battery blocks, which will enable the company to "meet Flowserve's growing demand for electric vehicles." At present, the large battery packs that electric vehicles require are very expensive, which is the reason why the price of electric vehicles is much more expensive than ordinary fuel-powered cars.

Matsushita's executive vice president, Yoshihiko Yamada, also issued a statement on the 31st that the company will undoubtedly "accelerate the expansion of the electric vehicle market" after the plant is completed and put into production. So far, the electric car market has only a small share of the car market. According to Autodata, Tesla sold only 1,500 cars in June, compared with 9,100 in the first half of the year. This is a slight increase from last year's data. Nissan's Leaf car performed well in the first half of the year, up 29% from last year, but the total is only 12,736.