Musk’s Battery Plan Boosted From Panasonic Intent Letter
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Elon Musk’s plans for a battery plant so big it will cut the cost of lithium-ion cells for Tesla Motors Inc. electric cars by 30 percent are advancing as Panasonic Corp. signed a letter of intent to join the project.
Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer and main shareholder, disclosed Panasonic’s growing interest in his “gigafactory” battery plant yesterday in a conference call to discuss first-quarter earnings. The Osaka, Japan-based electronics maker, Tesla’s main supplier of battery cells, expressed hesitancy in March about investing in the factory.