Solus Advanced Materials has become the first South Korean battery material producer to supply Tesla, providing the automaker with battery copper foil.
According to sources close to the company that spoke with The Korea Economic Daily, Solus started supplying battery copper foil to Tesla in January, which Tesla uses for their 4680 battery cell.
The 4680 battery cell is the next-generation battery cell that can boost Tesla’s mileage by 16 per cent compared to the previous generation 2170 cell.
Tesla is currently producing their own in-house 4680 cells at Giga Texas and at their Kato Road facility in California.
However, Solus’s overall sales may increase further when Tesla opens up Giga Berlin’s battery production plant.
Many in the industry predict that Solus will supply battery copper foil for Tesla’s European plant, mainly because Solus already has an operating battery copper foil plant in Hungary.
Solus currently produces around 30,000 tons of battery copper foil per year.
However, demand for battery copper foil is expected to triple in the next three to five years.
As a result, Solus is currently in the process of raising their output to more than 132,000 tons per year.
Leaked document shares a glimpse into Tesla’s current 4680 production yields
Source: The Korea Economic Daily
