Tesla is building Model 3 vehicles from its $2 billion plant in Shanghai, which began last year with car delivery, and announced the diversification of battery supply for the plant. Tesla will determine battery purchase volume between July 2020 and June 2022 When a fourth-quarter conference call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla is working with CATL and LG Chem, alongside its longtime partner, Panasonic, to ensure battery capacity for its production ramp. On February 3, Chinese battery manufacturer CATL announced that it had signed a two-year supply contract with Tesla, valid from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022. CATL said the electric car maker, led by Elon Musk, will determine the volume of battery purchases based on its needs, but the agreement does not impose restrictions on the volume of Tesla`s purchases. Tesla said last week that it had partnered with South Korea`s LG Chem and China`s CATL to supply batteries for electric vehicles. The company, which has a long-standing battery supply contract with Japanese company Panasonic, said its contract with LG Chem and CATL was smaller. We have already heard in November about an alleged delivery contract between CATL and Tesla. At the time, the agreement was only provisional, but it now appears to have been confirmed by both parties. A Chinese car battery manufacturer says it is ready to manufacture a product capable of propelling a vehicle over 1.2 million miles (two million kilometers) over a 16-year lifespan. SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle battery maker CATL 300750.SZ on Monday signed a battery delivery contract with Tesla TSLA. O signed. In February, the company signed a two-year contract to supply batteries for Tesla`s Model 3 cars. Other customers are BMW, Daimler, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.
The agreement has a two-year period between July 2020 and June 2022 and does not contain defined capacity restrictions. It seems that Tesla has mainly wanted to secure additional power lines if they are not able to start production with Panasonic in time. For most of Tesla`s history, their production has been limited by the power capacity of the batteries. This could continue to be the case if Tesla quickly ramps up production, while the company estimates that production will no longer be limited by the end of the year. The Nissan Leafs and Mini Electric are manufactured on site, and Property Week reported that Tesla is also considering opening its own “Gigafactory” car battery plant in England. Tesla will determine the volume of the battery purchase between July 2020 and June 2022, based on its own needs, CATL said in a stock exchange, adding that the agreement does not impose restrictions on Tesla`s purchase volume. Tesla recently started building cars at its new Shanghai plant and will likely benefit from a local supply of batteries rather than having to deliver them through Tesla and Panasonic`s batteries in Nevada. This will also help to ensure their supply against possible tariffs. Other automakers have recently had battery supply problems.
