BEIJING-- Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk said
Japan's Panasonic Corp. will likely be his company's partner in a
planned $5 billion U.S. battery factory, and that the electric car
maker would release details in two or three months.
"I would be surprised if Panasonic is not our partner," Mr. Musk
said Tuesday on the sidelines of an event in Beijing to commemorate
the first China delivery of its Model S electric car.
In an emailed statement, Panasonic said nothing has been decided
at this stage, but added it will "look into a variety of options to
strengthen" its relationship with Tesla.
In February, the Palo Alto, Calif., company said its proposed
battery Gigafactory would cost up to $5 billion and allow it to
sell as many as 500,000 vehicles a year. The proposed 10
million-square-foot facility would make the powerful and pricey
lithium-ion batteries that power its Model S and future vehicles.
Tesla has said it needs its own production to meet expected demand
and hit its cost target for a more affordable car.
Mr. Musk said the company has shortlisted four states for the
planned factory--Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. The company
would break ground at two separate locations to minimize the risk
of delays, he said.
He also said he met with some customers in China who had
expressed anger at delayed deliveries of their cars there. He said
he apologized to them. "We've resolved this," he said.
Earlier, Tesla said it wouldn't ship to customers outside the
major cities of Beijing and Shanghai until June because of a lack
of service centers and charging considerations.
Mr. Musk said the company planned to invest hundreds of millions
of dollars to build out a charging network in China.
Prices for the Model S electric vehicle in China start at
$121,000.
China has set itself the ambitious goal of putting 500,000
plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on the road by next year and
five million by 2020. Beijing is hoping so-called green cars will
help battle pollution and give a boost to Chinese auto makers by
encouraging them to pioneer such vehicles. Such cars could also
help reduce the country's dependency on imported oil.
Kana Inagaki in Tokyo contributed to this article.
Write to Colum Murphy at colum.murphy@wsj.com
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