Tesla Deals with Asian Partners to Produce 4680 Battery
Written by Reananda Hidayat PermonoCompleted Master of Science - MS, Petroleum Geology from Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
It’s a crucial time for Tesla since Elon Musk is looking to find a way to create a better and cheaper battery for electric vehicles.
The automaker is recruiting Korean and Chinese materials suppliers to help boost the energy of its latest battery cells.
According to people close to Tesla, this battery-related performance and production issues have contributed to the delay of Cybertruck.
Tesla has tapped China’s Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing and Ningbo Ronbay New Energy to help trim material costs for producing 4680 battery cells in the US.
However, the details of these arrangements haven’t been reported.
The Texas-based automaker needs to find a way to produce its ambitious target.
Hence, the 4680 batteries will smooth Musk’s dream of building 20 million vehicles annually by 2030 .
The company also signed a deal with Korea’s L&F Co to supply high-nickel cathodes as part of its efforts.
These elements will increase the energy density of the 4680 cells.
As an insurance policy to secure electric vehicle production, Tesla aims to augment its 4680 cells from Japan's Panasonic and Korea’s LG Energy Solution.
Therefore, Panasonic and LG are expected to supply battery cells for Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck.
The new battery plays a key role in the launch of Cybertruck, Tesla’s first new model in over three years.
The 4680 cell is named after its external dimensions: 46mm in diameter and 88mm in length.