Tesla wants to expand the factory in China to produce
Hardware

Tesla wants to expand the factory in China to produce battery packs

Since its early collaboration with the Panasonic Corporation in the field of battery cell production, Tesla has stuck to the use of classic cylinder cells, which, however, have certain disadvantages in terms of layout. As it became known from Tesla’s application, the company will start producing pack batteries in Shanghai.

    Image source: LG Energy Solution

Image source: LG Energy Solution

According to current information, Tesla buys traction batteries from four major manufacturers: CATL, BYD, LG Energy Solution and Panasonic. At least the first three companies specialize in the production of prismatic battery cells, or pack cells, which allow the space resembling a parallelepiped to be optimally filled.

It is difficult to say with what goals Tesla will set up independent production of pack batteries in Shanghai, but a corresponding application has already been submitted to the local authorities, it is said Reuters with a link to the official documentation. It states that Tesla will initially produce batteries of this type with a total capacity of no more than 20,000 Ah annually. In fact, this isn’t even enough to complete a traction battery for the Tesla Model Y crossover. Until now, Tesla has never used such batteries in its electric vehicles. It is possible that they will find application in the field of stationary energy storage systems.

The latest Tesla also wants to launch in Shanghai, so those plans could be linked. In parallel, the company submitted an application to expand production of electric vehicle power plants in Shanghai from the current 1.25 million units per year to 1.75 million units. In fact, this will allow the company to proportionally increase the production of cars in Shanghai. Last year, 726,000 Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles were assembled here, representing more than half of the world’s total annual production volume. The Shanghai plant is now capable of assembling more than a million electric vehicles per year. By the end of this year, Tesla expects to produce at least 1.8 million electric vehicles.

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Dylan Harris

Dylan Harris is fascinated by tests and reviews of computer hardware.

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