SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO, May 10 (Reuters) - Panasonic (6752.T) said on Wednesday that it will delay the commercial production of its 4680 battery cells championed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and begin operations during the April to September period in 2024, later than previously scheduled, as the company aims to improve their performance. Tesla's Japanese supplier, Panasonic, previously planned to start volume production for Tesla between April 2023 to March 2024. Panasonic is running a pilot 4680 production line at its Wakayama factory in Japan, while Tesla (TSLA.O) is already producing the 4680 battery cells, which Musk has touted as being key to making cheaper and compelling electric cars. But the carmaker struggled to meet its targets for production and performance of the cells. Tesla executive Drew Baglino said at a recent conference call that the company plans to steadily ramp production of 4680 battery cells ahead of Cybertruck production next year.

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