Tesla to increase battery cell purchases from suppliers including LG

Screen capture of Elon Musk's tweet on Tuesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk said the electric vehicle (EV) maker plans to increase battery cell purchases from current suppliers including LG Chem in a tweet on Tuesday.

The remark comes a day ahead of the “Tesla Battery Day” where the company is expected to unveil its own technology and major plans for the core component and the impact it will have on Tesla’s EV production.

“We intend to increase, not reduce battery cell purchases from Panasonic, LG & CATL (possibly other partners too),” he wrote in the tweet.

Tesla currently relies on external suppliers for rechargeable batteries, but there have been rumors that the company is preparing to internally produce batteries of its own. This is one of the announcements anticipated by industry watchers at Tesla’s first-time event dedicated to batteries.

The direction was vaguely confirmed in another tweet in which Musk said the company foresees “significant shortages in 2022 & beyond unless we also take action ourselves.”

But the major announcement, which will affect “long-term production, especially Semi, Cybertruck & Roadster, […] will not reach serious high-volume production until 2022,” Musk added.

The Tesla founder’s mention pushed LG Chem shares to rise 4 percent on Tuesday morning from the previous session. It closed 1.91 percent up at 639,000 won ($550). LG Chem was selected as one of the battery suppliers for the Tesla Model 3 last year.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]