Batteries

Panasonic began in 1918, when 23-year-old Konosuke Matsushita — with only ¥100 in savings — started making bicycle lamps in his Osaka home, working from a tiny rented room with his wife and brother-in-law. The lamp was a hit, and Matsushita's management philosophy — the 'Seven Principles' and his famous 'water tank philosophy' of abundant production — turned the company into Japan's biggest electronics maker and made him known as the 'God of Management'. The modern Panasonic spans consumer electronics (its TV, washing machine, and refrigerator lines), batteries (it is Tesla's long-time battery partner, supplying the cells for its EVs through a joint venture in Nevada), automotive systems (infotainment and cockpit electronics), and B2B solutions (factory automation, HVAC systems, and the 'KAIZEN' consulting arm). Its energy business is now the crown jewel — Panasonic is one of the world's largest lithium-ion battery makers. Headquartered in Osaka with about 240,000 employees and annual revenue near ¥8.4 trillion (US$56 billion), Panasonic has shed its unprofitable consumer businesses and reorganized into a holding company structure, betting on EV batteries, supply chain software, and green energy. For the electronics and automotive industries, Panasonic remains a giant — the company that taught Japan how to manufacture, and now powers the electric car era.

LG Energy Solution is one of the world's largest manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, spun off from LG Chem in December 2020. Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, the company employs about 33,000 people and supplies batteries to automakers including Tesla, General Motors, Hyundai, and Volkswagen. The company operates gigafactories in Korea, China, Poland, the United States, Indonesia, and Canada, producing pouch-type and cylindrical cells with NCMA and LFP chemistries. Its joint ventures — including Ultium Cells with General Motors and BlueOval SK with Ford — anchor North America's emerging EV battery supply chain, while its ESS business delivers grid-scale storage systems worldwide. For buyers in automotive and energy storage, LG Energy Solution is a Tier-1 battery supplier with proven mass-production quality, a global manufacturing footprint, and aggressive investment in next-generation technologies including solid-state and dry-electrode processes.