Tesla has quietly acquired an Ontario-based battery manufacturing and engineering company called Hibar Systems in a push to begin manufacturing its own battery cells.
The California-based electric carmaker has made no official announcement regarding the acquisition, but Electric Autonomy Canada learned from federal lobby registration documents that Hibar became a subsidiary of Tesla sometime between July and October of this year.
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 CAD grant from the National Research Council of Canada to support its efforts to develop Lithium-ion battery manufacturing systems.
After Tesla’s purchase of Hibar, the Ontario, Canada-based battery producer deleted its website. However, the company’s site did state that it is “truly unique in its capability to provide the world’s leading manufacturers with innovative advanced automation solutions that are engineered specifically to suit their production automation requirements.“
Hibar has manufacturing facilities in Europe, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and China. In 2014, the company said the Chinese market accounted for over 50 percent of its business.
Tesla’s decision to buy Hibar Systems is a clear sign that Tesla is moving full speed ahead with plans to build its own battery cells. In May, Tesla completed its acquisition of Maxwell Technologies, the developer of an innovative “dry electrode” technology that could save loads of money, time and factory space in the battery-making process.
