Japanese technology firm Panasonic will be reducing its domestic output of electric vehicle batteries due to reduced demand for high-end EVs,Car Expert reported. The company reduced EV battery production by 60% compared to the previous quarter, it announced during an earnings call.
Some production lines have already halted in order to reduce the stockpile of EV batteries, and Panasonic’s domestic EV battery production cut will likely last until March 2024 at the soonest, its group CFO Hirokazu Umeda announced. “We are talking with many other potential domestic customers; we are thinking of many uses [for the battery capacity],” Umeda said.
Domestic battery production for Panasonic currently accounts for 20% of its global total, and in addition to Japan, the manufacturer also produces batteries in China and the United States, where it produces battery cells for Tesla, specifically for the Model 3 and Model Y in Nevada, the report wrote.
In addition to its reduced production from Japan, Panasonic will also not be increasing production volume at its US facilities at this time. It remains to be seen if the battery manufacturer’s decrease in Japanese production volume would have any knock-on effect on the production and supply of EVs, according to Car Expert.
In June this year, Panasonic announced that it will be supplying Mazda as well as Subaru with batteries in the second half of this decade.
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