Panasonic took 6 years creating a Tesla battery factory in the US

Image : Tesla Giga Nevada Panasonic struggled to build a Tesla battery facility in the US due to American workers' large hands and the necessity to retrain them after years of outsourcing. Yet, its following cell factories will take government tax subsidies. Last year, Tesla hired dozens of Japanese floor supervisors to improve 2170 and 4680 cell production at its Nevada battery Gigafactory. Panasonic's Yasuaki Takamoto said in a new interview that being the first to develop EV battery manufacturing in the US has several drawbacks. American workers had to be retrained after decades of outsourcing destroyed the US manufacturing base and stripped them of their productive abilities. Photo Credit: Wikipedia "Due to U.S. outsourcing, huge manufacturing plants were built less often. The skill set shrank and aged, "Panasonic's electric vehicle battery production chief. After President Biden approved the made-in-America EV battery tax incentives, it's normal to hear proposals from construction businesses that haven't built a large plant in 15 years. Panasonic faced oddities like American workers' hand sizes from the start. Panasonic designed their finicky battery-making machinery for East Asian labor. Samsung had to adjust the machines to its American workforce to avoid throwing out whole batches during the critical battery assembly process. "That sounds like a joke, but these kinds of challenges were regularly experienced in the early phases," he adds. US workers had to be retrained in manufacturing skills, which delayed Tesla's Nevada battery factory production ramp-up by at least a year. Another delay was the battery machinery's redesign and adaptation. Panasonic believes its six years of operating battery manufacturing here offer it an edge over rivals after the US government's EV battery subsidy announcement for American-made cells. Ford's F-150 Lightning truck production halt and GM's LG battery yield difficulties are examples. "The name 'Gigafactory' has often been tossed around recently, but precisely how enormous one of these is and how many resources it requires is hard to conceive," Mr. Takamoto said. Panasonic's largest US battery opponent may be Tesla. Elon Musk told investors at a recent conference call that Tesla must divide its made-in-US battery tax credits with Panasonic for now, but he expects government revenue to skyrocket. Analysts estimate that Tesla's 100 GWh Nevada battery factory expansion may net US$3.5 billion in federal tax credits annually. Photo Credit: Nikkei Asia Panasonic will join the US government-backed gold rush with a US$4 billion Kansas battery facility and possibly another one. Panasonic agreed since the local labor pool is significantly greater than in Nevada. Panasonic's battery boss stated, "We are going to start hiring and if we can hire more people than we imagined, that will contribute to how we think about sketching out further bases." "Over six years we have learned so much" about building and operating an EV battery production in the US.