Battery giant Sony is set to start manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, according to reports.
The Japanese firm is set to release a 3.000 mAh 18650 cylindrical cell onto the market, according to pushEV website.
The type of cell is important because the 18650 cell is used in EV packs by OEMs such as Tesla.
It comes on the back of news that Sony Corporation is in talks to sell its main battery business to fellow Japanese firm Murata Manufacturing.
Sony signaled it’s intent to negotiate the sale of the group’s battery business by entering into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Murata.
If Sony does step into the market it will competing with heavyweights such as Panasonic, which is manufacturing cells at Tesla’s Gigafactory and in 2015 produced 4552MWh of EV battery packs.
Other big players in the game are BYD (1652MWh) and LG Chem (1432MWH) and Automotive Energy Supply Corporation _ formed as a joint venture between established 2007 as a joint venture between Nissan, NEC and NEC TOKIN (1272MWh) — all number are for 2015.
Although is was reported last month that by the Nikkei Japanese business press that Nissan was looking to sell its 51% share in AESC to Panasonic or to a electronics company with expertise in cell fabrication and assembly.
