Global electric vehicle major Tesla has finally ended its partnership to produce solar cells with electronics giant Panasonic. The companies say that they are planning to continue working together on developing and manufacturing automotive batteries for Tesla, but the scrapping of the solar cell partnership is a blow to an already strained relationship, experts note.
Tesla and Panasonic had first announced their huge joint venture on solar cells in 2016 and the Japanese company had borne the costs for part of the equipment need for the ‘Gigafactory 2’ located in Buffalo, Wyoming in the United States. The facility began producing core components for solar panels in 2017, but both companies have struggled to ramp up production in the factory since then. Under the partnership, the two companies had also agreed to use Panasonic-made solar cells for Tesla’s solar panels. Tesla’s core solar energy offering is the Solar Roof — solar panels intended for home use designed to look like regular black roof tiles.
