Tesla, Panasonic Sign Battery Gigafactory Deal/Environmental Leader Magazine

Thanks to one of our co-host, Jim Murphy, Sustainability Director at Rhode Island College, for this story. 

It is incredible to us how a start-up co, a decade old, has become the leader in EV's.  Tesla's continued investments, innovation, expansion, R & D and job creation i the essence of the business side of green.  Our new, green economy is driven by pillars of new industries.  Elon Musk not only sells great cars, but he has, through his company, taken on responsibility to build the charging--and battery efficient--network to make EV's viable.  Amazing.

Eventful, too, is the maturity of a Tesla to bring enough assets to the table to partner with a traditional powerhouse in electronics and consumer products, Panasonic.  Good news and this day will go in the history books as eventful, key to pushing our migration to electric vehicles.

Electric automaker Tesla Motors has reached an agreement with electronics giant Panasonic Corp to build a massive US  battery plant.

Panasonic, Tesla’s current battery cell supplier, said Thursday it will manufacture and supply cylindrical lithium-ion cells and invest in the equipment, machinery and other tools based on the two companies mutual approval. Meanwhile, Tesla will prepare, provide and manage the land, buildings and utilities.

Panasonic did not reveal how much it will invest into the gigafactory. Tesla has said it could cost as much as $5 billion.

In February, Tesla revealed plans to build a 10-million-square-foot facility, or gigafactory, to produce more lithium-ion batteries annually by 2020 than were made worldwide in 2013.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based automaker estimates the gigafactory will have the capacity to produce 50 gigawatt hours of battery packs a year by 2020. The battery packs will be used for its existing Model S luxury sedan and a cheaper next-generation vehicle, to be called the Model 3. The plant will also produce cells, modules and packs for the stationary storage market.

In June, CEO Elon Musk opened up all the patents for his company’s electric vehicle technology in an attempt to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles “Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.”