Does this mean Mazda is ready to go fully electric or stick with hybrids?
Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd. (Panasonic) and Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) have just announced that the two brands have agreed to enter into discussions to establish a medium to long-term partnership to meet demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and automotive batteries in a rapidly expanding market.
Panasonic Energy and Mazda will commence concrete discussions with Panasonic supplying Mazda with automotive cylindrical lithium-ion batteries manufactured at the former brand’s plants in Japan and North America, and the latter brand installing said batteries in EVs scheduled to be launched in the coming years.
Moreover, Kazuo Tadanobu, President and CEO of Panasonic Energy, stated, “As the automotive industry rapidly advances electrification and is leading in this technology, collaboration with Mazda will be a major step toward the achievement of our mission of realizing a society in which the pursuit of happiness and a sustainable environment are harmonized.”
“With our superior technology and extensive experience, we will drive growth of the lithium-ion battery industry and further accelerate our efforts to achieve zero emissions.” He added.
Masahiro Moro, Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer of Mazda, said, “As part of our electrification initiatives, Mazda is working with its partners in three phases to flexibly respond to changes in regulatory trends, consumer needs, and other areas.”
“We are delighted to collaborate with Panasonic Energy, which has been a pioneer in automotive lithium-ion batteries, developing high-quality products. We will keep contributing to curbing global warming through various initiatives including our electrification strategy.” He added.
The Panasonic Group and Mazda have built a good relationship over the years and Mazda had installed Panasonic batteries in its Demio EV, which the company had leased in Japan since 2012 and while the EV never found international success but if Mazda is willing to discuss a partnership with Panasonic, the batteries must be good.
Through this partnership, Panasonic and Mazda will contribute to the development of the automotive and EV battery industries and the resolution of social issues, such as maintaining employment in the region and human resource development. While this does not necessarily mean anything, it could signal that Mazda is going fully electric.
While I am very happy with Mazda making hybrid vehicles, no one can deny that the entire automotive industry is slowly but surely shifting to a fully electric future and hybrids simply cannot compete with EVs in this regard so if Mazda joins the ever growing list of manufacturers that go all-electric, we are in trouble.
We got all this from ACNNewswire and their full article is linked here. Thank you ACNNewswire for the information and images.
