Panasonic Mulling Building Battery Factories in Japan

Osaka, Aug. 20 (Jiji Press)--Panasonic Holdings Corp. is considering building electric vehicle battery factories in Japan for supply to Subaru Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp., people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Currently, Panasonic supplies almost all of its EV batteries to Tesla Inc. The Japanese company aims to expand its domestic battery business as EV demand in North America slows.

Panasonic Energy Co., a unit of Panasonic, and Subaru said in March that they will cooperate in the supply of cylindrical automotive lithium-ion batteries. Subaru plans to use batteries from Panasonic Energy for EVs it plans to make at a new plant in Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan. Panasonic Energy is considering building a new battery factory in Gunma.

Panasonic Energy also agreed with Mazda in March to cooperate on EV batteries. It is considering building EV battery plants near Mazda factories in Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures in western Japan.

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