Panasonic experienced both first-mover advantages and headaches when it set up shop in Nevada. In its early years operating at what Tesla calls its gigafactory—a term now often used generally for big EV-battery factories—the Japanese company struggled to boost production volumes. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk handed Panasonic tough deadlines and at times blamed it for holding back Tesla’s vehicle output. The companies’ joint battery business was in the red for years before eking out a quarterly profit for the first time in late 2019. The joint venture has recently done better as Tesla sales have risen sharply.

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