Mazda And Panasonic Will Establish Battery Supply Partnerships For Electric Vehicles

Mazda MX-30 was launched in 2020 as Mazda's first mass production battery electric vehicle. (Doc. Mazda)

JAKARTA - Japanese automaker Mazda Motor and Energy Division from Panasonic Holdings will start talks to form a medium-term and long-term electric vehicle battery supply (EV) partnership. The news was announced by the two companies on Wednesday, June 21.

The President and CEO of Panasonic Energy, Kazuo Tadanobu, stated that collaboration with Mazda would be a major step in realizing the mission of the two companies to create a sustainable environment that is in line with people's happiness. Tadanobu also emphasized that through superior technology and extensive experience, they will encourage the growth of the lithium-ion battery industry and accelerate efforts to achieve zero emissions.

Masahiro Moro, Managing Executive Director and Senior Officer Mazda, stated that as part of the electrification initiative, Mazda is working with their partners in three phases to respond flexibly to changes in regulatory trends, consumer needs, and other areas. Moro also welcomes collaboration with Panasonic Energy, which has been a pioneer in automotive lithium-ion batteries, and hopes to contribute to limiting global warming through their electrification strategies.

This partnership is expected to help Mazda increase production of electric vehicles in accordance with the company's planned expenditure of 1.5 trillion yen (about 10.6 billion US dollars) announced last November to encourage vehicle electrification. In this partnership, Panasonic Energi will provide Mazda with an automotive ion-lithium cylinder battery produced in Japan and North America for Mazda electric vehicles which is expected to launch in the second half of the decade.

However, it has not been disclosed in detail which battery Mazda will use in its electric vehicle. Mazda will hold talks with the aim of ensuring battery supply from 2025 to 2027 or maybe longer.

For information, in 2012, Mazda had used 1865 batteries supplied by Panasonic in their Demio electric car in Japan. The batteries were leased in a total of 100 subcompact units as a trial to improve understanding of electrification technology.

Japanese automakers are currently preparing to catch up in the growing electric vehicle market. In fact, the world's best-selling automaker Toyota, which owns 5.1% stake in Mazda, has also announced plans to use solid batteries and other technologies to increase travel distance and reduce future electric vehicle costs.

On Friday, the Japanese government also announced an increase in support of up to $2.2 billion for domestic battery production. The support was given to Toyota and other manufacturers to strengthen the security of larger economic supply chains.