The Tesla “battery day” presentation is almost here, set to take place tomorrow after being rescheduled from April due to the coronavirus pandemic. But with just hours to go until the company reveals something — the expectation is that it has developed at least one new type of battery cell that could help it stay ahead of growing EV competition — Elon Musk has some news.
We intend to increase, not reduce battery cell purchases from Panasonic, LG & CATL (possibly other partners too). However, even with our cell suppliers going at maximum speed, we still foresee significant shortages in 2022 & beyond unless we also take action ourselves.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2020
According to Musk, “what we announce will not reach serious high-volume production until 2022,” and this will have implications for its Semi, Cybertruck and Roadster. He also went on to say that the company plans to increase battery cell purchases from partners like Panasonic and LG, but indicating the company will take action to avoid shortages in the future, a possible hint to ward getting into cell manufacturing itself. We’ll find out exactly what that means when the presentation occurs tomorrow, with the Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Battery Day event scheduled to start at 4:30PM ET / 1:30PM PT.