Much of the global attention around industrial self-sufficiency has focused on the US and China. Yet Japan, too, has been working to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers in strategic sectors, and particularly when it comes to China. A part of that effort has been to catch up in the electric vehicle battery market. That push is now faltering.
Japan had a head start: Panasonic was one of the world’s first EV battery makers. Yet despite the country’s early mover advantage its position has weakened in recent years because of intensifying competition from Chinese rivals, limited local production capacity and a relatively late shift by its carmakers to pure battery EVs. These structural disadvantages have made battery making a national priority.
As recently as 2021, closing the gap seemed within reach. The government launched subsidies for more than 30 battery-related projects and set a target of producing 150 gigawatt hours of batteries annually by 2030, enough to power more than 2mn EVs per year.