Panasonic plans to develop cobalt-free car batteries

TOKYO (Reuters)-
Panasonic, Tesla\'s battery supplier, said on Wednesday that due to soaring prices for key battery components, the company\'s goal is to develop car batteries that do not use cobalt in the near future.
Top battery manufacturers are scrambling to reduce the amount of cobalt in lithium
In recent years, with the rise in mineral prices and the price of ion batteries, the popularity of electric vehicles is expected to eventually lead to a shortage of cobalt.
\"We have significantly reduced the use of cobalt,\" Tian Cun Xianzhi, who is responsible for Panasonic\'s automotive battery business, said at a meeting with analysts.
\"Our goal is to achieve zero use in the near future and development is in progress.
\"Panasonic is a supplier of Tesla Volkswagen batteries
The Model 3 sedan on the market, co-produced batteries at Geely factory in Nevada.
Tesla said earlier this month that the battery used in Model 3 has reached the highest energy density while \"significantly reducing cobalt content\", while increasing nickel content and still maintaining
In addition to efforts to reduce the rare mineral content in the battery, Ito Jixiong, head of Panasonic\'s automotive business, said Panasonic also tried to sign contracts with customers, \"in a way that allows companies to hedge against the risk of soaring material prices \".
At Wednesday\'s meeting, Ito said Panasonic has been working closely with Tesla and is ready to strengthen battery production as the United States developsS.
Electric vehicle manufacturers aim to increase the production of Model 3 cars to 5,000 vehicles per week by the end of June.