Lucid Group and Panasonic Energy announced they have entered into multi-year agreements that entail the latter supplying lithium-ion batteries to both the Lucid Air and Gravity SUV. Part of the agreement supports Panasonic Energy’s plans to expand outside of Japan and begin production at a new facility in the US.
Lucid Group ($LCID) continues to try and do everything it can to expand its customer base and scale its EV lineup. Since beginning production in Arizona last year, the luxury EV automaker has delivered over 1,400 versions of its flagship Air sedan, including the latest Touring trim.
The Pure version of the Air will follow as well as a highly anticipated tri-motor Sapphire – an EV whose speed alone could shut some of its critics up… at least for a while. Not to be outdone, Lucid Motors has been teasing more peeks at its next EV – an SUV called Gravity.
The next Lucid Air and Gravity EVs will soon feature lithium batteries from Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd., a division of Panasonic Group formed this past April as the company looks to bring production to the US.
Lucid and Panasonic Energy sign agreement for batteries
Lucid Group shared details of its new multi-year agreements for batteries in a press release today. To begin, Lucid EV’s will receive batteries manufactured by Panasonic at its current footprint in Japan. However, future cells will come from the energy company’s upcoming facility in Kansas, which just broke ground in November.
It is there that the company intends to further ramp up 2170 cell production and support its Japanese facilities in developing and producing 4680 cells for automakers like Tesla. With today’s announcement, Lucid Motors joins that rolodex for batteries. Panasonic Energy president and CEO Kazuo Tadanobu spoke:
With the increased electrification of the automotive market, partnerships with technology-leading EV manufacturers such as Lucid are critical to our mission. This partnership will help us drive growth of the lithium-ion battery industry and accelerate the world towards a net-zero emissions future.
Lucid Motors expects to reach a full ramp-up of all Air models by 2023 while it expands its AMP-1 production facility in Arizona to support Gravity production. Those electric SUVs are expected to follow in 2024, but may feature Panasonic batteries from Japan at first.
Panasonic doesn’t expect to begin mass production in the US until 2025, but when complete, the company is anticipating an annual total production capacity of 30 GWh to supply US EV manufacturers like Lucid with lithium batteries.