Panasonic Cobalt Free batteries

Panasonic has released an announcement stating they’re quickly developing, and will be using cobalt free batteries in the “near future”. They’re working closely with Tesla to get the technology to market. They claim to have already cut cobalt usage significantly in their current batteries.

http://uk.*.com/r-panasonic-plans-to-develop-cobalt-free-car-batteries-2018-5/?r=AU&IR=T

Magnis plans to begin production sometime in 2019 in small scale (1GW). Panasonic will soon be supplying batteries to 5,000 cars per week to Tesla alone.

It is evident that a cobalt free lithium battery will be literally as common as what a regular lithium battery is today. The technology is no longer proprietary (which is what it appears Magnis counted on to a degree, when it comes to selling points).

The tone of Panasonic’s comments suggests there is urgency. I’d bet they get their batteries in cars within months and not years. Assuming they do, Magnis will no longer be “first” in this space with this tech. They’ll be competing one-for-one with the biggest in the industry, who have scale and cost advantages Magnis can never have as a start up.