Report: Panasonic to Supply EV Battery Packs for Upcoming Tesla 'S'
By John O'Dell October 8, 2009
Tesla Motors Corp. reportedly has selected Panasonic to supply the batteries for its Model S electric sedan (left), scheduled to go into production in late 2011.
Tesla wouldn't comment on the deal - initially reported by GreenTech Media and based on information from unidentified sources.
It makes sense, though, especially based on today's other Panasonic news - that the electronics giant is developing a way to mass produce low-cost EV batteries using commercial lithium-ion cells made for laptop computers.
The battery pack in the Tesla Roadster EV uses 6,800 laptop cells, individually wired together and protected from runaway heat buildup by an internal liquid cooling system and use of thousands of fuses meant to isolate an overheated cell so it can't spread its thermal overload throughout the pack.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has estimated the present cost of the hand-built pack at $36,000, accounting for a third of the roadster's base price.
Despite the expense, use of the commercial laptop cells is favored by Tesla over purpose-built EV batteries, and the company plans to use the same or a similar system for its Model S battery packs.
If Panasonic can build them on an automated line in its existing battery plants, as it has claimed - the cost savings for Tesla would be significant.
The Tesla S, according to details provided by the EV manufacturer at the car's introduction earlier this year, would use the same type of battery pack, made of individual laptop cells. Tesla is planning on offering several packs for the 'S,' though, based on the travel range customers desire and are willing to pay for.
Battery pack for Tesla Roadster is hand-assembled and uses 6,800 individual laptop cells, each slightly larger than an AA battery.
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The base pack,good for 160 miles between charges, will consist of 5,500 cells, but packs for 220 and 300 will have 8,000 cells each (advanced chemistry in the 300-mile pack will give it additional range with the same number of cells as the 220-mile pack, Tesla says).
Panasonic said it is aiming for commercial production of is laptop-cell EV battery packs by 2013, which would be just in time to begin supplying them to Tesla as it ramped up production of the Model S.
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