Mazda to build new battery pack plant

Japan’s Mazda will build a new plant in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture to produce battery modules and packs of cylindrical cells procured from fellow Japanese firm Panasonic. Annual production capacity is planned to be 10GWh, but this capacity figure may not be reached until end of decade.

In September last year, the two Japanese firms firmed up a “medium- to long-term” battery collaboration which had been under discussion since mid-2023 and saw a battery supply agreement reached in March 2024. The partnership foresees Panasonic supplying Mazda with batteries from its facilities in Japan and in North America.

The September agreement commits supply of cylindrical cells to Mazda from Panasonic’s Suminoe and Kaizuka factories in Osaka, more than 350km east of the proposed packing plant in Iwakuni. Initial capacity may be 6.5GWh/yr, based on a Panasonic investment of c.¥83.3bn ($550mn), of which up to ¥28.3bn could be subsidised by Japan’s ministry of economy, trade and industry.

The completed battery packs will be installed in the BEVs Mazda is currently developing on its own dedicated EV platform, which is scheduled to see its first all-electric vehicle launch in 2027. The firm currently only offers the ageing MX-30 B-segment e-SUV as an all-electric model, and its US withdrawal means the firm has no BEV options there.

The first new BEV will be made in Japan, although Mazda has not specified at which of its plants. A pack facility at Iwakuni would be in easy reach of its main manufacturing hub in Hiroshima, where the MX-30 is currently built, but also its Miyoshi and Hofu plants.

Mazda's Chinese joint venture with partner Changan is aiming to launch two new BEVs this year. But there has been no suggestion as yet that the Japanese firm intends taking these all-electric offerings to an international audience.