This Week's Top Advanced Vehicle Design News

Feb. 17, 2021

When you’re working at a facility called the Gigafactory, you can expect to be working on a large scale. ADAPT reports on how this battery developer is pushing the envelope.

Feb. 17, 2021—When you’re working at a facility called the Gigafactory, you can expect to be working on a large scale.

Celina Mikolajczak, vice president of battery technology for Panasonic North America, said that it can be like orchestrating a symphony, given all the different departments and specialties involved. They’re ordering raw materials by the hundreds of tons, not kilograms.

“We have to worry about our supply chain if we’re going to build at the scale that Tesla needs or the electric vehicle industry at all needs,” Mikolajczak said.

She spoke during a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. Panasonic finds itself in a key position for electric vehicle battery development. The company has had a supply agreement with Tesla for years, but in 2020 it became the lead developer of Tesla’s highly anticipated new battery design—the 4680 (more about that here).

Mikolajczak and Shawn Watanabe, head of energy technology and manufacturing for Panasonic, spoke about the challenges of pushing battery technology forward as part of a high-demand partnership with Tesla.

Big Production

Batteries are complex units, and creating a new design at scale presents big challenges.

“The manufacturing process is moving very very fast,” Mikolajczak said. “If you make a mistake, you have to find it very quickly or you're going to create an enormous amount of scrap.”

Production could create millions of battery cells per day. In order to minimize mistakes and maximize consistency, Panasonic looked to automate much of the process. Watanabe said that nearly 400 Japanese engineers moved to the Reno area to set up the production line and train staff members.

Mikolajczak said that the manufacturing equipment also came from Panasonic HQ in Japan, but it was scaled up for a larger production capacity. Since the beginning, there has been a push to maximize automation.

“One of the big challenges to my engineering team is to continually add automation, add sensors to our equipment,” she said.

To read more and get the full story, head over to ADAPT.

Sponsored Recommendations

How one auto shop was able to order 20% more parts

Learn how one auto shop talks about the benefit of using PartsTech in their shop.

Vehicle Inspection Checklist For Auto Shops

Vehicle inspections, whether digital or on paper, are crucial for auto shops, ensuring thorough assessments and fostering trust by transparently revealing a vehicle's condition...

6 Reasons Why A Digital Vehicle Inspection Is A Must-Have

In an era of growing technology and innovation, auto repair shops must keep pace with the latest advancements to meet customers preferences and remain competitive.

How Your Auto Shop Can Now Connect To 30 Tire Suppliers For Free

Yep! We have over 50 tire suppliers in our network. And PartsTech is the only platform where you can access more than 30 of those suppliers FREE OF CHARGE.