China’s BYD is set to begin delivering electric vehicle (EV) batteries to Tesla in the very near future.
News of the partnership was revealed by Lian Yubo, BYD’s executive vice president in an interview on China’s state-owned broadcaster CGTN on Wednesday.
“We are now good friends with Elon Musk because we are preparing to supply batteries to Tesla very soon,” said Yubo (via Reuters)
Yubo didn’t provide any further details regarding the deal, like how long it will last, what type of batteries BYD will supply, or how many they will be providing.
However, based on previous rumours there are two strong possibilities.
In October last year there were reports that BYD and Tesla had signed a deal for 10 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of LFP batteries. According to sources who were familiar with the deal, Tesla picked BYD as a supplier due to their proximity to the automaker’s facilities in California.
The sources also claimed that Tesla had already been testing their vehicles with the battery and had entered the “C-sample test phase.”
That was preceded by another reported deal between the two companies a few months earlier in which Tesla would receive BYD’s Blade battery. The battery was unveiled in March 2020, with the company saying it would redefine EV safety standards.
That deal was later denied by the Chinese battery maker, although their denial didn’t exactly squash the rumours due to their choice of words in saying they never told the media about the deal.
BYD Senior Vice President Lian Yubo: We are now good friends with @elonmusk and are immediately ready to supply him with batteries. BYD respects Tesla and admires Tesla. pic.twitter.com/LD1jTbyfdE
— Chris Zheng (@ChrisZheng001) June 8, 2022
