According to the Nikkei Chinese website, Panasonic Holdings announced on May 31 that Panasonic Energy, which is engaged in the battery business, has officially withdrawn from the lead-acid battery production business and will concentrate operating resources on Panasonic Holdings. Production of pure electric vehicle lithium batteries for the most important investment field.
At present, Panasonic’s only company in the world that produces lead-acid batteries is Panasonic Battery (Shenyang) Co., Ltd. (PSBS), which officially ceased production on May 31. Previously, it mainly produced lead-acid batteries for industrial use, such as emergency power supplies for buildings. PSBS is expected to go into liquidation in the future.
Panasonic Group reached an agreement with large battery company GS YUASA on the transfer of Panasonic’s lead battery business in 2015, but PSBS and the Thai factory are not in the transfer agreement. The Thai factory ended lead battery production as early as March this year.
According to previous reports, Panasonic will spend 700 billion yen on equipment investment this year, which is almost equivalent to all of Panasonic’s profits in the past three years. More than half of the funds will be invested in the vehicle battery business, and strive to increase battery production capacity by 60% within one year. The investment will focus on the Desoto Super Battery Factory in Kansas, which will mainly supply Tesla with 2170 cells.
