SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures during a conversation at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, June 13, 2019.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Tesla has quietly acquired Hibar Systems, a company that specializes in high-speed battery manufacturing systems for electric vehicles, according to Canadian news site Electric Autonomy.
It’s unclear when the deal took place, but Tesla lists Hibar as a subsidiary in an Oct. 2 filing with the Canadian government, Electric Autonomy reported. Additionally, Hibar’s website has been updated to a single page in recent months.
Representatives from Tesla weren’t immediately available for comment.
According to Hibar’s LinkedIn page, the Ontario-based company was founded in 1974 and has at least 50 employees. In April, Hibar was awarded a $2 million grant from the National Research Council of Canada to support its efforts to develop Lithium-ion battery manufacturing systems.
It comes as Tesla has been working to develop its own battery cells in-house, as part of a move to offer cheaper, higher-performance electric vehicles and limit its dependence on Panasonic, which jointly owns and operates a battery factory in Sparks, Nevada. The company has gradually strengthened its portfolio of energy tech companies, acquiring Maxwell Technologies for $218 million in February.
