Photo: BYD
It seems Ford will not be the only American carmaker to buy batteries from BYD. After the company started using them in the Chinese Mustang Mach-E, Tesla would also have secured a supply of 10 GWh in LFP cells from the competitor Elon Musk laughed about in 2011.
The information comes once again from the Chinese website CLS.cn. According to their sources, Tesla’s announcement that it would put LFP (lithium iron phosphate) in all entry-level derivatives of its cars was just the tip of the iceberg. The American company said that at its Q3 2021 earnings call, but it did not mention any agreement with a new Chinese supplier. Tesla currently buys LFP cells from CATL. BYD said it would not comment on the deal.
CLS.cn had also warned that Tesla would have signed a contract with BYD in August. According to the information released by then, the idea was to use Blade Batteries to getTesla's new manufacturing method with large structural castings going.
The initial plan was to make that structural battery pack with 4680 cells. However, development delays with the new cell format prevented the company from adopting it. The German Model Y would start production in 2021 with this new component. Since it is not ready, Tesla could evaluate that idea with BYD’s Blade Battery pack.
What CLS.cn added to the information it had already published is the size of this contract. It also suggests that the LFP cells for Fremont and Texas should come from BYD’s LFP battery plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The issue is that the factory is in California, not in Pennsylvania. Another matter is that this factory would only assemble battery packs but wouldn’t produce them. BYD confirmed that to autoevolution.
If it ever does that, BYD will be in a great position to supply the Fremont factory with Blade Batteries. Tesla’s move also makes a lot of sense, but we’ll talk about this in another article this weekend. Stay tuned!
CLS.cn had also warned that Tesla would have signed a contract with BYD in August. According to the information released by then, the idea was to use Blade Batteries to getTesla's new manufacturing method with large structural castings going.
The initial plan was to make that structural battery pack with 4680 cells. However, development delays with the new cell format prevented the company from adopting it. The German Model Y would start production in 2021 with this new component. Since it is not ready, Tesla could evaluate that idea with BYD’s Blade Battery pack.
What CLS.cn added to the information it had already published is the size of this contract. It also suggests that the LFP cells for Fremont and Texas should come from BYD’s LFP battery plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The issue is that the factory is in California, not in Pennsylvania. Another matter is that this factory would only assemble battery packs but wouldn’t produce them. BYD confirmed that to autoevolution.
If it ever does that, BYD will be in a great position to supply the Fremont factory with Blade Batteries. Tesla’s move also makes a lot of sense, but we’ll talk about this in another article this weekend. Stay tuned!
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