Tesla buys Ontario firm to bolster battery needs
Tesla Inc. has acquired an Ontario-based battery manufacturer in its latest investment in Canada.
Richmond Hill, Ont.-based Hibar Systems Ltd., which specializes in building “complex high speed integrated battery assembly lines,” is now a subsidiary of the California-based electric vehicle maker.
Terms of the agreement, including price, were not disclosed, but Tesla filed lobbying forms in October in Ottawa that list Hibar Systems Ltd. as a subsidiary, as first reported by trade magazine Electric Autonomy, and the company has scaled back its website to a single page.
The move comes amid Tesla’s well-known manufacturing challenges, having consistently missed ambitious production targets despite making large investments in robotics and other technology to automate its processes.
Adding Hibar to its holdings could help alleviate shortages of battery parts.
It’s a problem the company identified as a bottleneck earlier this year, or it could help with general improvements to its manufacturing capacity.
“Hibar is a world leader in the development of battery manufacturing technology,” it said in a screenshot of its website from July, which has since been removed.
In the first quarter, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk called “battery cell scarcity” a challenge to its production targets for its Model 3.
“We’re essentially scrounging cells from all around the world,” he said.