LG Chem Secures Bigger Tesla Battery Contract

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Global battery giant LG Chem has reportedly secured a bigger order of batteries from Tesla due to higher demand and an inability for Tesla to produce enough batteries for its cars on its own. At least, that’s the news out of Korea, where LG Chem is based, according to Reuters.

A source also told Reuters that Tesla was asking other battery producers (probably CATL and Panasonic) to increase battery supplies to help it meet growing consumer demand.

While it’s already been known that LG Chem is producing batteries in China for Tesla’s “Made-in China Model 3s,” one of the Reuters sources indicated that LG Chem is also changing over production lines in South Korea to produce batteries for Tesla.

As we’ve reported in recent weeks and as you can see in our chart above, the Tesla Model 3 is hugely popular in China and has been dominating the electric vehicle sales chart there this year. This follows Tesla recently ramping up mass production of the Made-in-China Model 3.

The Model 3 is also selling well in Europe, where it’s in a tight race with the Renault Zoe for the title of best selling plug-in vehicle in Europe, and in the United States, where it was the top selling vehicle of any kind or class in California in the 1st quarter.

The Reuters report did not indicate which factory the LG Chem would be headed to, but it would presumably be Tesla’s China gigafactory (Giga Shanghai), since Gigafactory 1 (Giga Nevada) should be producing enough batteries for Tesla’s vehicle production capacity in Fremont, California.

Aside from Tesla’s growth, LG Chem’s battery business has been growing like bamboo as European electric vehicle sales have exploded and EVs haven’t done too bad in a handful of other countries despite the coronavirus pandemic. Check out more recent LG Chem news to catch up on the company:

  1. Recent LG Chem, CATL, & SK Innovation Battery News
  2. LG Chem Has Begun Mass Production Of NCM712 Batteries In Poland
  3. Hyundai, Kia, & LG Chem Plan To Suck The Blood Of EV & Battery Startups
  4. 19× More Invested In EVs & EV Batteries In Europe Last Year Than In 2018
  5. LG Chem & Panasonic In Tight Race To Be #1 EV Battery Supplier, CATL Solidly #3
  6. Work Begins On GM/LG Chem GigaPower Battery Factory
  7. Lack Of Batteries Forces Audi To Curtail Production Of e-tron Electric SUV — Who Would’ve Predicted It?

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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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