LG Chem & CATL to supply Tesla’s batteries in China
The Chinese battery cell manufacturer CATL has confirmed that it has signed a supply contract with Tesla. The final purchase volume for battery cells between July 2020 and June 2022 is to be determined at a later date based on actual orders.
Tesla had already announced the supply agreement last week. Still, there has not yet been any confirmation from the cell suppliers or details from Tesla on the deal’s scope. At the request of Reuters, none of the three companies wanted to comment further on the supply agreement. In addition to CATL, Tesla will source cells from LG Chem at Gigafactory 3. At the same time, the Fremont plant will continue to be supplied by Panasonic with cells from Gigafactory 1 in Nevada.
As the purchase volume has not yet been determined, the value of the order cannot be quantified. CATL did not provide any information on production planning or theoretical upper limits. Details of the deal will probably be announced at the Tesla Battery Day in April. Also, CATL did not specify in the stock exchange announcement which type of battery the company will supply to Tesla. The Californian car manufacturer has so far only used round cells, but CATL mainly manufactures prismatic cells.
Gigafactory 3 near Shanghai will reach a capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year just a few months after the start of production. At present, only Model 3 is produced there for the Chinese market; production of Model Y in China is scheduled to start in 2021. In the quarterly report, Tesla stated that it intended to install additional capacities for Model 3 and Model Y in the Gigafactory 3 – but no exact figures were given.
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