Despite its close relationship with Panasonic, Tesla will actually be utilizing Samsung SDI lithium-ion battery cells at the facility in South Australia that’s now under construction, the company has revealed. The reason for the choice of supplier is a fairly pragmatic one, though — Panasonic reportedly wouldn’t be able to meet demand for the project. It’s noteworthy here that we just reported on the fact that Panasonic is expanding its automotive lithium-ion production capacity in Japan , not that those are the same cells. Also noteworthy is that Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised the massive new facility in South Australia would be online within 100 days of a grid connection agreement being signed or that it would be “free” — presumably, that promise has led to a need to be pragmatic about rapid sourcing of battery cells. Tesla is importing the cells to the US for final assembly before sending them to Australia — apparently taking the promotional ben...