panasonic may upgrade japan plant to make advanced tesla batteries: source - 18650 battery cell

TOKYO (Reuters)-
Panasonic may upgrade its battery plant in Japan to produce advanced-
Format the battery for Tesla if needed in the USS.
Electric vehicles (EV)
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
Panasonic is currently Tesla's exclusive battery supplier, producing batteries for electric vehicle manufacturers at their joint factory in the United StatesS.
Nevada-the so-
Called Gigafactory-
And two factories in Japan.
Processing of cylindrical lithium in Japanese factory
Ion "18650" battery for powering Tesla's S and X cars, while the Nevada plant produces newer, higher batteries
Energy density of mass "2170" cells
3 cars in the market.
The person, who declined to disclose the matter, said the Japanese production line would need only minor changes to move from 2170 to 18650 batteries.
On Wednesday, Japanese newspaper Nikkan Kogyo reported that the upgrade could take place in the current fiscal year ending March 2020.
Panasonic said in a statement that no decision has yet been made.
Earlier, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said Panasonic had "restricted Model 3 production" since July ".
Panasonic's production in Nevada is 24 gigawatts. hours (GWh)
Musk tweeted this month, compared to the planned 35 GWh capacity.
Panasonic said that by the end of March 2019, it had completed the installation of 35 GWh capacity equipment in Nevada, but not all installed equipment was in full operation.