Beginning of the battery business

Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd. was established in April 2022 by bringing together all of the Panasonic Group's battery divisions.
Panasonic Energy is built upon a history of 100 years in the battery business. Starting with dry batteries for bicycle headlamps in 1923, we have continuously come up with industry-leading technologies to drive the evolution of batteries, including nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal hydride, and consumer lithium-ion batteries. In 2008, we commenced the mass production of cylindrical lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), which greatly contribute to a smaller environmental footprint, and to date, we have supplied a total of approximately 13 billion cells.
By drawing on our strengths: the technological capabilities honed over a century, the market creation capabilities for solving the issues of customers and society from the ground up, and the trust and track record built up day after day, we intend to engage many different stakeholders to ramp up our ability to provide solutions with energy.
Amidst the unprecedented expansion of energy usage, there are countless issues that only Panasonic Energy can lead the way in solving in order to address the challenges faced by all of humanity. The pride of providing the energy that changes the future and the determination to do what humankind requires: these are the ideas that will motivate us to create new value with a view to achieving a society in which the pursuit of happiness and a sustainable environment are harmonized free of conflict―something the whole world longs for.

Kazuo Tadanobu, CEO, Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd. (Excerpt from Panasonic ENERGY Integrated Report 2023)

image: What We Aim for Our Mission　Achieving a society in which the pursuit of happiness and a sustainable environment are harmonized free of conflict. Our Vision Energy that changes the future. Our Will Doing what humankind requires.

The two founders―Konosuke Matsushita (1894-1989), the founder of Matsushita Electric and Toshio Iue (1902-1969), the founder of SANYO Electric―laid the foundation for Panasonic's battery business, which began with dry batteries.
They met in 1917, the year before the founding of Matsushita Electric. Konosuke, who left Osaka Electric Light Company, aiming to commercialize the electrical sockets he had improved, called over Iue , the younger brother of his wife Mumeno, from his hometown on Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture to Osaka and started preparations for manufacturing sockets. Until Iue left Matsushita Electric in 1946, they shared joys and sorrows and worked closely together to overcome difficulties.
From the 1920s to the 1930s, Konosuke strengthened and developed the dry battery business by significantly increasing sales of battery-powered bicycle lamps. In 1935, Matsushita Battery Industrial Co., Ltd. was founded, with Iue becoming the company's first president.
After leaving Matsushita Electric, Iue founded SANYO Electric in 1947. Since then, Matsushita Electric, which changed its name to Panasonic in 2008, and SANYO Electric have each developed and accumulated unique strengths in the battery business. The two companies were integrated in 2011, more than half a century after Iue started his own business. It can be said that the bond between Konosuke and Iue united the two companies.