Panasonic Corp. have indicated that they will invest in Telsa Motors, which is a car company that is known for making electric cars. Panasonic will invest $30 million in the project to see if they can make an electric car with rechargeable batteries in new hybrid cars. "Panasonic, which already supplies lithium-ion batteries for Telsa's automobiles, is said to now hold around 2% of Telsa's shares." (Wall Street Journal) Panasonic is now moving onto the energy industry after they had a tough time selling flat-pannel televisions. They believe since it is a time for everything to be more "green" that Panasonic should invest their shares into Telsa, while also using their lithium-ion batteries.
They have also said that Panasonic and Telsa will jointly plan to sell Telsa battery backs using Panasonic's battery cells. The reason Telsa is picking Panasonic for this joint market is because the world is slowly turning towards lithium-ion batteries and Panasonic is known for making the best around. Panasonic will now be in the running against Sanyo Electric Co. which is working their battery technology for numerous car companies, such as Honda, Volkswagon, etc.
-Michael Sheinfeld
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704506404575593162128563810.html?mod=WSJ_Energy_leftHeadlines
This was a very strategic move for Panasonic to make. As the use of renewable energy resources increases, more money is pouring into the industry to support it. I wasn't aware that lithium-ion batteries could serve such an important purpose, but the new use of these batteries will definitely make Panasonic stand out as a company. I'm wondering if by using lithium-ion batteries, the electric cars will now be more efficient or be a higher quality car. Regardless, the initiative taken by Panasonic and other companies similar to it will continue to develop the advancement of renewable energy technology.
ReplyDelete-Ashley Luddy
This was also a very strong move for Tesla to make. For the most part Tesla only produces high-end goods that are not what most people can commonly afford. Branching out in to this new area will help the company diversify and hopefully begin to produce more common goods like these battery packs. If they can pool enough money in from selling other goods like these ones they may be able to lower the prices for some of their higher-end goods and make them more readily available to more people. This would be good for their business as well as for the environment.
ReplyDelete-Tom Langevin