Last month we reported on speculation that BYD would supply batteries for the Tesla Model Y early next year. However, things have moved pretty fast, and the Chinese auto company has now made actual deliveries of their Blade batteries to Tesla, as noted by Sina Tech.
The first Model Y equipped with BYD’s Blade batteries will come late this month or early September.
The first deliveries of the BYD batteries were made to Giga Berlin, making it the first Tesla factory to use Blade batteries. Giga Shanghai reportedly has no plans to use BYD’s battery, despite being physically closer to BYD.
There had been persistent rumors since last year that Tesla would obtain batteries from BYD, one of its biggest rivals in China. However, the video of BYD’s Executive Vice President Lian Yubo corroborating the claims was deleted from Weibo.
Giga Shanghai uses CATL and LG Energy Solution batteries at a 70:30 ratio. An unnamed source at the factory reported there had been no sighting of BYD’s battery on the assembly line. Neither had they heard anything about adding a third battery vendor.
The Chinese based factory makes the Model 3 and Model Y, with a 750,000 annual production capacity.
Some media houses erroneously reported that BYD had overtaken Tesla in vehicle delivery, but we debunked the claim. But the automaker was able to get over 22,000 reservations for its Seal EV in just six hours.
