With the company steering way ahead of any competition in the electric vehicle industry, Tesla Inc is open to help others make equally competent electric cars, CEO Elon Musk confirmed recently. Musk said that the company can do this by supplying software, powertrains and even its famed batteries.
The statement comes just days after the Audi CEO admitted that Tesla is at least two years ahead of the competition in terms of EV technologies. The US EV maker is primarily renowned for its batteries, offering the best-in-segment range to its electric cars.
Now Musk confirms that Tesla can outsource such critical EV components to others. "Tesla is open to licensing software and supplying powertrains & batteries. We¡¯re just trying to accelerate sustainable energy, not crush competitors!" Musk said in a tweet on Tuesday.
This is not the first time that the CEO has divulged the company¡¯s advancements to help others.
The very essence of the California based firm was to bring about a revolution in the automobile industry with electric vehicles. An important step in this was to propel others to follow suit and produce EVs over IC engine vehicles.
That is also why Tesla even kept its patented technologies open for all to use.
Now that the other auto makers are coming up with their own EVs, Tesla is sure that it can help them with the technologies it has developed in-house over time.
Tesla batteries, for instance, that form the costliest part of an EV, are currently being made through a joint venture with Panasonic Corp. In addition, the company sources them from South Korea's LG Chem and China¡¯s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL).
Going forward, Tesla is planning a battery manufacturing facility of its own at its Fremont, California, plant under its "roadrunner" project.
Once set up, the plant will become Tesla¡¯s hub for EV batteries, from where it will possibly supply batteries to others as well. It has done so in the past, having supplied batteries to Mercedes and Toyota Motor as per a Reuters report.
If and when the EV makers around the globe start sourcing such critical components from Tesla, the market will see an increased dependence on the US EV maker like never before.