Tesla and Panasonic Ink Gigafactory Deal

There were talks of Tesla and Panasonic coming together for Tesla's Gigafactory and now there is confirmed news that this project will become a reality. Tesla has inked a deal with Panasonic and under the terms of the agreement, Tesla will prepare, provide and manage the land, buildings and utilities of the plant.

The Gigafactory will be built in southwestern United States and be approximately ten million square feet in size. The plant will employee about 6,500 people and the first batteries are expected to roll off the assembly line in 2017.

Tesla Chief Technical Officer JB Straubel said "The Gigafactory represents a fundamental change in the way large scale battery production can be realized. Not only does the Gigafactory enable capacity needed for the Model 3 but it sets the path for a dramatic reduction in the cost of energy storage across a broad range of applications."

While Tesla holds its part of the deal, Panasonic will invest in quipment, machinery, and other manufacturing tools to build and supply cylindrical lithium-ion cells for the Model 3.

Panasonic Executive Vice President Yoshihiko Yamada said, "I believe that once we are able to manufacture lithium-ion battery cells at the Gigafactory, we will be able to accelerate the expansion of the electric vehicle market."