JAKARTA - BYD China is preparing to immediately supply batteries for Tesla Inc's electric cars. This statement came from a senior company executive to state media news anchors in a video released early Wednesday, June 8.
“We are now good friends with Elon Musk as we are preparing to supply batteries to Tesla very soon,” said Lian Yubo, Executive Vice President of BYD in an interview with Kui Yingchun, host of state-owned Chinese broadcaster CGTN.
While BYD and Tesla did not immediately comment on the report.
BYD, the world's largest manufacturer of vehicles including electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, has been working to supply batteries to other automakers including Toyota.
In 2020, BYD officially launched its Blade battery, a not-so-large lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery that Chairman Wang Chuanfu believes is safer than other alternatives on the market and will not burn.
Chinese battery giant CATL is currently the sole supplier of LFP batteries to Tesla, which has been installing them in cars manufactured at its Shanghai factory since 2020.
Tesla revealed that nearly half of the vehicles it produced in the first quarter were equipped with LFP batteries - a cheaper rival to the nickel and cobalt-based cells that dominate in the West.
Panasonic and LG Energy Solutions are the main suppliers of nickel and cobalt-based cells to Tesla so far. Through this collaboration, Tesla hopes to get an easier and more robust supply of electric car batteries. Meanwhile, for BYD, this is a form of recognition by US companies for China's battery technology.
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