Subaru to source batteries from Panasonic

(Tokyo) The Japanese automobile manufacturer Subaru and Panasonic, also a Japanese company, announced on Tuesday an agreement which will allow the former to obtain supplies from the latter of cylindrical batteries for electric vehicles.

The two groups did not immediately provide many details on this agreement. They announced last summer that they had started discussions on a potential “medium or long-term partnership” in batteries.

Subaru launched its first 100% electric model, the Solterra SUV, last year, and the manufacturer wants to achieve 50% of its global sales with electric vehicles by 2030.

Panasonic, which is a major supplier of electric batteries to the American Tesla, also began similar discussions last year with Mazda, another major Japanese automaker.

At the beginning of March, Japanese automobile giant Toyota announced that it would increase to 100% its stake in Primearth EV Energy (PEVE), a joint venture manufacturing batteries for hybrid vehicles that it had founded with Panasonic in 1996, and in in which Toyota was the majority shareholder since 2005.

PEVE will now also produce batteries for 100% electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, Toyota said in early March.

Since 2020, Toyota and Panasonic have also had another joint venture in lithium-ion batteries, called Prime Planet Energy & Solutions (PPES), and currently 51% owned by the automotive giant.

Although some of its representatives such as Nissan were pioneers of electric technology, the Japanese automobile industry was slow to fully launch into this segment which has exploded in recent years in China, but also now in Europe and the United States. .

Both in difficulty in China in particular, Nissan and Honda announced last Friday that they were considering entering into a “strategic partnership” in the electric sector to try to accelerate their respective shift towards this now crucial segment.