Panasonic to increase the production of Li-ion batteries for Tesla electric car

Date: 31/10/2013
The high-density lithium-ion battery manufacturer Panasonic, which is an important battery supplier to successful Tesla electric cars, has announced increasing production of lithium-ion battery cells for Tesla. Tesla uses Panasonic’s lithium ion batteries in its most successful electric car model Tesla S and also in Tesla X.

Tesla’s model S car has become favourite not only in US, but also in Europe, particularly in Norway. There is no more worry/tension of lesser range and slow charging problems of electric cars in Tesla S electric car.

Even if the battery runs dry, Tesla has made available supercharging stations on important highways in US and Europe. More than 60% of the battery-capacity can be charged in less than 20 minutes by using superchargers, a time most people take to have a bite/drink on the highway restaurants.

Tesla Motors has opened West Coast Supercharger Corridor in US, energizing a network of stations that enable Model S owners to travel for free between San Diego, California and Vancouver, British Columbia.

In India, we are blessed with an electric car maker, Mahindra Reva, the new model e2o, though not so exciting by range and charging time, but is very affordable compared to many electric cars in the world. There is also news that BMW is planning to release its electric car model BMW i3 in the Indian market by 2014. BMW i3 is designed to offer a range of 190 km on single charge. BMW i3 is also powered by lithium ion batteries. The charging time with normal port is 6-8 hours, and with high-voltage DC charging, 80% of the batteries can be charged under 30 minutes. Tesla’s S model perform better than BMW i3. Tesla has not yet announced any launch plans for India.

With the fuel prices rising, and the battery technology improving, electric cars’ sales rising faster. We in India burdened with fuel imports can benefit by this trend.