BYD is reportedly ‘very soon’ supplying Tesla with batteries, a senior BYD executive told state media hosts in a video released Wednesday morning.
“We are now good friends with Elon Musk because we are preparing to supply batteries to Tesla very soon,” said Lian Yubo, BYD’s Executive Vice President in an interview
In the past year there have been a lot of rumors over the past year suggesting BYD will be the battery supplier for Tesla, but they have not been confirmed as of today.
Currently the only battery supplier to Tesla in China is CATL, which has a battery factory near the Shanghai Giga.
In August last year, there were rumors that BYD would supply blade batteries for Tesla’s electric vehicles in the second quarter of 2022. Reportedly, BYD’s battery modules have already been tested in Tesla’s vehicles.
Rumors circulated several times including at the end of October last year and early this year. At that time there was no direct confirmation or denial of this rumor from BYD or Tesla.
BYD is China’s largest new energy vehicle (NEV) maker, selling 114,943 vehicles in May, the third straight month of more than 100,000 units.
