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Most of Tesla’s EV-use lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries are supplied by Panasonic. However, it is reported that Tesla may expand its supplier pool and will purchase batteries from Samsung SDI.
According to Nikkei (Chinese Version)’s report, Tesla plans to have multiple battery suppliers to fulfill the growing demand to Tesla electric vehicles. The report pointed out that Samsung SDI has sent a large volume of pure EV-use li-ion batteries to Tesla’s manufacturing plant in California, and the volume is large enough for convincing that they are not simply for tests.
The battery procurement could already enter into the very final phase, suggested the Nikkei report.
Panasonic is the largest EV-use battery supplier in the world because of its superiority in both quality and quantity. Tesla and Panasonic partnered in 2015 to build the Gigafactory in Nevada, USA and the plant is scheduled to reach a preliminary finish in late July in 2016. While the initially planned production capacity was as high as 50GWh by 2020, it seems insufficient for the strong demand to Tesla’s new product lines including Powerpack, Powerwall and Tesla Model 3. As a result, Tesla did have plan to further expand the capacity of Gigafactory.
On the other hand, the top-3 EV-use li-ion battery suppliers are Panasonic, Samsung SDI and LG Chem, while the latter two only supply a limited volume to the EV market.
(Photo Credit: Samsung SDI)