Panasonic Corp (PCRFY)

[Volle Kraft]

I have been an automotive gear head all of my life. I love internal combustion engines and I am actually a big Fan of Fords. When Ford developed the Eco Boost engine series I was very impressed that they had finally pulled out all the stops and used all of their technology to build a twin turbo direct injection engine for every day use.

But even as Ford was introducing their new Eco Boost engines, I was wondering if they were going to get a good return for their investment. Developing the Eco Boost series had to cost a very significant amount of time and money. I am afraid that one of my favorite automotive companies might be worried that it misjudged how long internal combustion engines will still have a market.

I suspect that's one of the reasons that a Ford engineer in a recent Seeking Alpha article is attempting to make it seem as if Panasonic and Tesla are blindly forging ahead with no plans for a post Lithium-Ion battery. The Ford engineer also states that Tesla / Panasonic developing and manufacturing their own battery cells and building a Gigafactory was a bad business model. He also states that all of the equipment couldn't be used for anything but lithium-ion cell production and when the next battery technology comes along the Gigafactory will be a useless building out in the middle of nowhere.

Tesla and Panasonic are pursuing several different battery technologies including solid state, it wouldn't be very prudent or smart not to. I would suspect that they are smart enough to have plans to convert the Gigafactory over to what ever technology they develop.

As far as the Gigafactory it reminds me of Henry Ford wanting to build every thing in house and have more control over it so he built his Rouge plant. Aside from the production line concept the Rouge plant was considered one of Henry Fords greatest successes.

As far as the future of the Lithium-Ion battery, you know that it will probably just become the standard battery with an optional solid state battery or what ever.

Maybe powered by Panasonic or Panasonic equipped will be prominently displayed on several different makes and models of Electric Vehicles in the years to come.