The only reason Panasonic tolerates the existence of Tesla is that Tesla operates as the global marketing division of Panasonic batteries. If Tesla sheds the EV business then Panasonic will no longer deal with them.
The idea that Tesla is fundamentally a battery company is just weird. All of their battery chemistry, technology, and capacity is from Panasonic in one way or another.
All of their battery chemistry, technology, and capacity is from Panasonic in one way or another.
The battery cell technology in current batteries is all Panasonic (i.e., the chemistry, cell container, etc.), but the battery assemblage is all Tesla. That's the stuff related to assembling the cells together into a battery, adding voltage controls, cooling assemblies, etc.
As a point of comparison: Porsche's Taycan also uses Panasonic EVs, and has even an even better lap-racing performance than any Tesla, because Porsche's battery assemblage includes extra cooling assemblies that allow the car to be used for extended periods of high performance. While a Tesla can do full speed for 1 lap, a Taycan can do full speed until the battery dies.
A battery is more then just a cell, if you don't understand that you don't have a clue about how modern EV work. To hit everything that you need to do from safety, charge and so on, requires massive effort that is located on the pack level.
> Panasonic tolerates the existence of Tesla
Tesla is the biggest buyer of batteries on the planet and Panasonic should be beyond happy that they are the primary supplier.
> If Tesla sheds the EV business then Panasonic will no longer deal with them.
What? If Tesla just decided not to do cars?
> The idea that Tesla is fundamentally a battery company is just weird. All of their battery chemistry, technology, and capacity is from Panasonic in one way or another.
Tesla actually buys cells from Panasonic, LG Chem and CATL. All of these are integrated into Tesla owned and controlled packs that do the overall management.
Also, Tesla works much closer with Panasonic then you think. They are not just a costumer, they have a partnership with Panasonic and they make many decisions together.
Additionally Tesla has a large internal battery group that builds not just battery cells and packs, but actually they build battery manufacturing equipment. They bought the Canadian Hibar system that specialized in electrolyte filling and they are now Tesla exclusive. Tesla Grohmann Automation in Germany is building dedicated battery manufacturing equipment. Tesla has multiple agreements with research universities, including with Jeff Dahn's lab at Dalhousie University. They are part of the Battery 500 consortium. Plus they have a massive internal group on everything from cathode/anode manufacturing, cell design and more.
I agree that it is wrong to say that right now they are a battery company, but that it is 'all Panasonic' is totally wrong. Tesla will be a vertically integrated from cells to EVs.
The idea that Tesla is fundamentally a battery company is just weird. All of their battery chemistry, technology, and capacity is from Panasonic in one way or another.