It House, March 10 (Xinhua)-- this is a critical juncture before the popularity of Tesla 4680 batteries, and the company seems to be looking for Chinese and South Korean companies to help them make better and cheaper batteries.

Tesla has used China's Ningbo Rongbaixin Energy and Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing to help cut material costs, eventually increasing battery production by 4680 in the United States, Reuters said, citing people familiar with the plan.

Tesla has used China's Ningbo Rongbaixin Energy and Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing to help cut material costs, eventually increasing battery production by 4680 in the United States, Reuters said, citing people familiar with the plan.

Reuters said that if Tesla can solve 4680 battery performance and process problems and successfully expand production capacity, then the company will have a chance to achieve Musk's dream of "producing 20 million cars a year."

One of the sources told Reuters that as part of his efforts, Tesla also signed an agreement with South Korea's Lathamptera F Co to supply high-nickel cathodes, which may help Tesla increase the energy density of his 4680 batteries.

The carmaker aims to increase its production through South Korea's LG New Energy and Japan's Panasonic 4680 batteries, an insurance policy that ensures future production of electric vehicles, according to two sources. LG and Panasonic are expected to supply batteries for Cybertruck electric pickups, one of the sources said.

According to IT House, Panasonic is testing the 4680 production line at the Wakayama plant in Japan and plans to start mass production later in the current fiscal year (ending March 2024). Shoichiro Watanabe, Panasonic's chief technology officer, said last month that the company's new Kansas battery plant would initially focus on 2170 batteries, but would eventually shift 4680 of its production to North America.

Last year, LG said it planned to start opening a new 4680 production line at its Ochang plant in South Korea in the second half of 2023.

Sources say the first-generation 4680 batteries produced at the Tesla Fremont plant failed to meet energy density targets, according to Reuters. So far, the carmaker has been able to dry paint the "anode-negative electrode", but there are still problems with the cathode dry coating.

It is worth mentioning that Musk and Tesla executives have previously said that Tesla has so far been trying to increase the output of the dry coating process, but can only produce about 50000 car batteries a year. Mr Musk had said Tesla would have enough 4680 capacity to supply 1.3 million Model Ys by 2022.

Tesla plans to use cathodes with a nickel content of more than 90 per cent in the next generation of 4680 batteries, according to two sources. Another source said LathampterF is expected to be one of the suppliers of the high-nickel cathode.