By Chris Nicholls
TOKYO: Panasonic has rebutted claims that it is about the start construction of the world’s largest lithium ion battery factory, saying “nothing has been decided yet”.
The story, which emerged today in the Yomiuri Shimbun, quoted an unnamed source who said Panasonic would invest 100 billion yen (approximately AU$1 billion) on the plant, which upon completion, would be capable of producing 50 million batteries a day.
Such capacity would push Panasonic past Sony to be the world’s second largest battery maker after Sanyo.
According to the story, the factory would be built on the site of the former Kansai Electric Osaka power plant.
However, Panasonic Japan spokesperson Akira Kadota told Current.com.au that while the company had been “studying various possibilities regarding growth strategies of its battery business”, nothing had been decided yet.