With Tesla battery packs and largest hydrogen tank in Japan, Panasonic tests a factory of the future
As a bullet train speeds by in the background, a liquid hydrogen tank towers over solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells at Panasonic’s Kusatsu plant in Japan. Combined with a Tesla Megapack storage battery, the hydrogen and solar can deliver enough electricity to power the site’s Ene-Farm fuel cell factory.
Tim Hornyak
As bullet trains whiz by at 285 kilometers per hour, Panasonic’s Norihiko Kawamura looks over Japan’s tallest hydrogen storage tank. The 14-meter structure looms over the Tokaido Shinkansen Line tracks outside the ancient capital of Kyoto, as well as a large array of solar panels, hydrogen fuel cells and Tesla Megapack storage batteries. The power sources can generate enough juice to run part of the manufacturing site using renewable energy only.
“This may be the biggest hydrogen consumption site in Japan,” says Kawamura, a manager at the appliance maker’s Smart Energy System Business Division. “We estimate using 120 tons of hydrogen a year. As Japan produces and imports more and more hydrogen in the future, this will be a very suitable kind of plant.”
Sandwiched between a high-speed railway and highway, Panasonic’s factory in Kusastsu, Shiga Prefecture, is a sprawling 52 hectare site. It was originally built in 1969 to manufacture goods including refrigerators, one of the “three treasures” of household appliances, along with TVs and washing machines, that Japanese coveted as the country rebuilt after the devastation of World War II.
Today, one corner of the plant is the H2 Kibou Field, a demonstration sustainable power facility that started operations in April. It consists of a 78,000-liter hydrogen fuel tank, a 495 kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell array made up of 99 5kW fuel cells, 570kW from 1,820 photovoltaic solar panels arranged in an inverted “V” shape to catch the most sunlight, and 1.1 megawatts of lithium-ion battery storage.
On one side of the H2 Kibou Field, a large display indicates the amount of power being produced in real time from fuel cells and solar panels: 259kW. About 80% of the power generated comes from fuel cells, with solar accounting for the rest. Panasonic says the facility produces enough power to meet the needs of the site’s fuel cell factory — it has peak power of about 680kW and annual usage of some 2.7 gigawatts. Panasonic thinks it can be a template for the next generation of new, sustainable manufacturing.
“This is the first manufacturing site of its kind using 100% renewable energy,” says Hiroshi Kinoshita of Panasonic’s Smart Energy System Business Division. “We want to expand this solution towards the creation of a decarbonized society.”
The 495kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell array is made up of 99 5KW fuel cells. Panasonic says it’s the world’s first site of its kind to use hydrogen fuel cells toward creating a manufacturing plant running on 100% renewable energy.
Tim Hornyak
An artificial intelligence-equipped Energy Management System (EMS) automatically controls on-site power generation, switching between solar and hydrogen, to minimize the amount of electricity purchased from the local grid operator. For example, if it’s a sunny summer day and the fuel cell factory needs 600kW, the EMS might prioritize the solar panels, deciding on a mixture of 300kW solar, 200 kW hydrogen fuel cells, and 100kW storage batteries. On a cloudy day, however, it might minimize the solar component, and boost the hydrogen and storage batteries, which are recharged at night by the fuel cells.
“The most important thing to make manufacturing greener is an integrated energy system including renewable energy such as solar and wind, hydrogen, batteries and so on,” says Takamichi Ochi, a senior manager for climate change and energy at Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting. “To do that, the Panasonic example is close to an ideal energy system.”
With grey hydrogen, not totally green yet
The H2 Kibou Field is not totally green. It depends on so-called grey hydrogen, which is generated from natural gas in a process that can release a lot of carbon dioxide. Tankers haul 20,000 liters of hydrogen, chilled in liquid form to minus 250 Celsius, from Osaka to Kusatsu, a distance of some 80 km, about once a week. Japan has relied on countries like Australia, which has greater supplies of renewable energy, for hydrogen production. But local supplier Iwatani Corporation, which partnered with Chevron earlier this year to build 30 hydrogen fueling sites in California by 2026, has opened a technology center near Osaka that is focused on producing green hydrogen, which is created without the use of fossil fuels.
Another issue that is slowing adoption is cost. Even though electricity is relatively expensive in Japan, it currently costs much more to power a plant with hydrogen than using power from the grid, but the company expects Japanese government and industry efforts to improve supply and distribution will make the element significantly cheaper.
“Our hope is that hydrogen cost will go down, so we can achieve something like 20 yen per cubic meter of hydrogen, and then we will be able to achieve cost parity with the electrical grid,” Kawamura said.
Panasonic is also anticipating that Japan’s push to become carbon-neutral by 2050 will boost demand for new energy products. Its fuel cell factory at Kusatsu has churned out over 200,000 Ene-Farm natural gas fuel cell for home use. Commercialized in 2009, the cells extract hydrogen from natural gas, generate power by reacting it with oxygen, heat and store hot water, and deliver up to 500 watts of emergency power for eight days in a disaster. Last year, it began selling a pure hydrogen version targeted at commercial users. It wants to sell the fuel cells in the U.S. and Europe because governments there have more aggressive hydrogen cost-cutting measures than Japan. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy launched a so-called Hydrogen Shot program that aims to slash the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram over 10 years.
Panasonic doesn’t plan to increase the scale of its H2 Kibou Field for the time being, wanting to see other companies and factories adopt similar energy systems.
It won’t necessarily make economic sense today, Kawamura says, “but we want to start something like this so it will be ready when the cost of hydrogen falls. Our message is: if we want to have 100% renewable energy in 2030, then we must start with something like this now, not in 2030.”
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Coming in hot… well, as hot as these solar cars can get, upwards of 60 mph.
It’s hard to believe we’re just over a month away from this year’s Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 collegiate solar car track event! In July, some of the greatest engineering minds from universities across North America will roll into Bowling Green, Kentucky, with their respective hand-built solar-powered EVs to go head-to-head in a competition all about pushing the limits of sustainable transport. The goal? Complete as many laps as possible each race day using nothing but sunshine.
The event is open to the public and free to attend. Raycing kicks off on July 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT and continues through July 5 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT. You’re not going to want to miss this!
As a refresher, the Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) is held annually and typically acts as a pre-qualifier for the American Solar Challenge (ASC), a cross-country solar car race held every two years. During ASC years, FSGP is where teams prove their vehicles are road-worthy and safe enough to trek over 1,500+ miles from Tennessee to Wyoming on public roads.
This year, however, is an off-year for ASC. Teams will only compete in the track event. Here are last year’s FSGP/ASC results and highlights.
The 2025 Electrek FSGP will again be held at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which, interestingly enough, General Motors occasionally uses for Corvette testing and development. It’s here, students will go head-to-head in a grand prix-style event, competing to complete as many laps as possible using nothing but solar power. It may sound simple, but it’s a test of speed, efficiency, and endurance.
Last year’s event drew a record turnout, with more than 32 teams and 710 student participants from universities across the U.S. and Canada.
The ASC and FSGP are organized by the Innovators Educational Foundation (IEF), a 501c3 non-profit providing hands-on, multidisciplinary learning opportunities for college students. In 2023, Electrek announced the signing of a five-year title sponsorship agreement with the IEF, which will guarantee funds to host the yearly races through 2028.
This was a natural fit. EVs, solar power, sustainable transport, and collaboration—this is what we’re all about at Electrek, and we’re thrilled to once again be a part of such an incredible event.
Other 2025 Electrek FSGP sponsors include Altair, Blue Origin, MathWorks, Generac, and in previous years Tesla, which have used the event as prime recruiting grounds. In fact, in past years, one recruiter even told Electrek that “getting great employees at the Formula Sun Grand Prix was like shooting fish in a barrel” and added “students at these events are orders of magnitude more likely to yield successful hires than typical campus recruiting events.”
And when it comes to industry talent, FSGP/ASC has serious roots.
JB Straubel, Tesla’s co-founder, ex-CTO, and current sitting board member, got his start in the Stanford Solar Car program. While he currently serves as CEO of lithium-ion battery materials company Redwood Materials, Straubel talks about how many of Tesla’s early hires came straight out of that same solar car team in the video below.
If you’re interested in joining us in sponsoring these events, please get in touch here!
We’ll continue to post more details, including the full schedule, as the race nears! Keep an eye on the website as well.
2024 Electrek FSGP/ASC recaps
Below are the full recap videos from the Formula Sun Grand Prix/American Solar Challenge. The event’s official Flickr page has also amassed more than 1,500 photos. Check them out—they’re super cool!
More details and full results on last year’s Electrek American Solar Challenge and Formula Sun Grand Prix can be found on the event’s website.
Note: The Formula Sun Grand Prix is not in any way associated or affiliated with the Formula 1 companies, FORMULA 1 racing, or the FIA Formula One World Championship.
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The struggling carmaker is urgently cutting costs as it looks to turn things around. Nissan is offering buyouts to US workers at its Canton, Mississippi, plant, citing it as a “crucial” part of its comeback plan.
Nissan offers buyouts for US workers at its Canton plant
Nissan has been in the spotlight over the past few weeks for all the wrong reasons. It began earlier this month, following the company’s announcement that it was abandoning plans to build a new EV battery plant in Japan.
The facility was set to produce lower-cost LFP batteries, which have been key to BYD and other Chinese EV brands’ rapid rise in the global auto industry. With an annual production capacity of up to 5 GWh, the plant was expected to slash EV battery costs by 20% to 30%.
Facing slumping sales, lower profits, and more competition, Nissan launched its new recovery plan, dubbed “Re:Nissan,” earlier this month.
The comeback strategy involves cutting 20,000 jobs, or around 15% of its global workforce, by 2027. Nissan is also closing several plants to slash costs by 250 billion yen as it aims to return to profitability by fiscal year 2026.
According to an internal email, viewed by Reuters, Nissan is offering buyouts for US workers at its Canton plant. The email also stated that merit-based pay increases are suspended globally.
Christian Meunier, Nissan America’s chairman, said the buyouts are “crucial for Nissan’s comeback” in the US, its most important market.
“While substantial efforts have been made in the US to help right-size Nissan, we need to take additional, limited, strategic action here at a local level,” Meunier said in an email.
Nissan announced a voluntary separation program for a select number of US salaried employees. Since the plan is still ongoing, Nissan didn’t provide any further details.
On Wednesday, a separate report from Bloomberg News claimed that Nissan is looking to raise over 1 trillion yen ($6.9 billion) with the help of the UK government to repay a massive loan due next year.
Nissan invested $500 million to upgrade its Canton plant for electric vehicle (EV) production in the US. Although it initially planned to begin building EVs in the US this year, Nissan delayed production until at least 2028.
Later this year, Nissan will launch the upgraded LEAF, now with a longer driving range, an NACS charging port, and a more SUV-like design. It will be one of ten new Nissan or Infiniti models to launch by 2027.
Electrek’s Take
As Electrek reported yesterday, Nissan’s comeback plan hinges on its upgraded e-Power technology. The only issue is that the system is designed for hybrids.
Nissan is following in Toyota and Honda’s footsteps by advancing new hybrid and plug-in hybrid tech, but the company is already two steps behind.
Doubling down on hybrids and PHEVs while delaying more EV projects will likely only set Nissan up for failure over the next few years.
The Japanese automaker is already losing market share in some of its biggest markets, like China and Southeast Asia.
Can Nissan turn things around in the US, its most important market? Or, will it continue to fall out of favor with lower-cost, more advanced EVs on the way from brands like Rivian and Lucid? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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