Panasonic Corp. on Wednesday reported a net profit of 195.63 billion yen ($1.70 billion) in the April-December period, up 50.3 percent from a year earlier, on the back of strong sales of batteries for electric vehicles. The automotive segment, one of the key growth areas for the electronics company, logged sales of 774.9 billion yen in the period, up 7 percent from a year earlier, due to strong overseas demand of in-vehicle equipment and electric car batteries for Tesla Inc. The operating profit of the Osaka Prefecture-based company also increased to 274.15 billion yen from 226.80 billion yen …