As we reported earlier this month, Tesla plans to build battery packs on-site at its Texas factory, and new filings show that it will, in fact, still be pursuing these plans.
According to new filings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), Tesla will have its own cell facility when it begins operations in Austin, as per the Austin Business Journal (via Teslarati):
TCEQ spokesman Brian McGovern confirmed to Austin Business Journal that the filings from Tesla indicate it is “planning to manufacture cells.”
Tesla’s plans to build its own 4680 battery cells represents a major decrease in battery supply chain reliance for the company, and would ultimately result in lower costs for consumers, as reported by CEO Elon Musk on Battery Day in September.
At Tesla’s Fremont factory, the company is already utilizing a pilot line to build 4680 cells, which will be featured in the first of the company’s Gigafactory Berlin-built units. In addition, the company plans to install similar lines at Giga Berlin, which will further decrease its reliance on supplied cells from third-party battery manufacturers.
While Tesla will stand to benefit from making its own 4680 cells, it likely won’t become fully self-sufficient anytime in the near future. The company has been working closely with Panasonic and other battery cell manufacturers, and has signified that it will be working with these companies through, at least, the larger part of the 2020s.
In any case, only time will tell how quickly Tesla is able to reduce its supply chain needs. Eventually, the company will even mine its own lithium at Terafactory Texas, though this is certainly a long ways out.
Click here to see the latest construction updates at Gigafactory Texas, as filmed yesterday by drone.
