SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc opened afactory to produce battery manufacturing equipment in theCanadian city of Markham, Ontario, the city said on Friday, asthe electric carmaker ramps up the production of cheaper,higher-range 4680 battery cells.
In 2019, the U.S. electric carmaker acquired Canada-basedHibar, which manufactures pumps used in fast-speed batteryassembly that Tesla is introducing for its new 4680 cells.
"I'm delighted to share that Tesla Canada is joining ouralready robust automotive and technology ecosystem by locating amanufacturing facility in the City of Markham," the city mayorFrank Scarpitti said on Twitter.
"The facility will be the first branded Tesla Canadamanufacturing facility in Canada and will producestate-of-the-art manufacturing equipment to be used at theGigafactories located around the world in the production ofbatteries."
City official Bryan Frois told Reuters the Markham facilityopened this summer, marking an expansion of another site inneighboring Richmond Hill.
Tesla did not immediately comment on the mayor's tweet. Lastyear, Tesla senior vice president Andrew Baglino said at theBattery Day event that its "vertical integration" with Hibar andothers would allow them to build batteries faster and scale upproduction of its 4680 battery cells.
Baglino said last month that Tesla will start delivering itsfirst vehicles with 4680 batteries early next year, but addedthat "this is a new architecture and unknown unknowns may existstill."
Tesla currently builds the 4680 cells at its pilot factoryin California and plans to start their production at itsupcoming factories in Texas and Berlin.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by David Gregorio)
Messaging: hyunjoo.jin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))