Securing enough domestic batteries is crucial to Musk’s efforts to expand in China, the world’s biggest car market. To that end, Tesla Inc. has reached a preliminary agreement to start using CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd.) as a battery supplier for cars made in China from as early as next year. Chinese supply would go into Model 3 cars produced at Tesla’s factory near Shanghai, permitting Tesla to rely less on imports and reducing any impact from tariffs that have fluctuated amid the U.S.-China trade war. Tesla is continuing to innovate, as shown by four recent publications dealing with electronic components.
