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Audi Suspends Electric Vehicle Production Due To Battery Shortage

Today in "news that affects all electric vehicle manufacturers but definitely not Tesla stock", Audi has announced that it has suspended production of its e-Tron electric SUV effective February 20 and won't resume until some point early this week. 

The suspension has been a resolve of "resolving production issues", which are mainly attributed to bottlenecks in battery supply, according to Business Insider. Audi uses battery cells that are made by LG Chem and ran into similar battery supply chain issues last year. 

Making sure companies have a steady battery supply has become a priority for many EV makers. Names like Jaguar and Hyundai have also faced similar supply chain issues with batteries in the past. Other automakers, like GM, Toyota and Tesla are investing in joint ventures or building their own battery manufacturing facilities.

As one example, GM and LG Chem announced a deal last year where they would both invest a cumulative $2.3 billion into a battery factory in Ohio. 

Audi said that the company sold roughly 26,400 of the SUVs last year but wouldn't comment on delivery estimates for the upcoming year. The company reported sales of 5,369 e-Trons in the Americas last year, which represented 2.4% of sales in the region.

Regardless, it is yet another issue in the EV world that real auto manufacturers are subject to - and yet another one that, for some reason, doesn't seem to catch up with Tesla. How can things at Tesla always be just fine and dandy while other auto manufacturers have to deal with these real world supply chain issues?

Last year, for instance, Tesla's Elon Musk said that Panasonic was "holding back production" of the company's Model 3 by not making enough batteries. The company's stock has tripled since then, while Tesla has made no material progress in producing its own batteries. 

By Zerohedge.com

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Comments

  • James Hilden-Minton - 25th Feb 2020 at 5:14pm:
    Let's be clear. Tesla has become the world's largest EV producer by unit. It has struggled for years to ramp up its battery supply, but today it operates at a scale well above that of Audi and other "real" automakers. Media commenters have happily published every struggle and every missed target along the way. These were the growth pains of Tesla. Now Audi and rest are trying to get serious about EVs too. They too must cut their own teeth. They have no particular advantage in ramping up EVs over Tesla. They will struggle too. But eventually they will get the hang of it or go out of business.

    Tesla stock has tripled because investors are starting to recognize that Tesla is the first real EV maker. The assumption that the "big boys" will easily catch up has been proven false. The "big boys" are novices when it comes to producing EVs at scale. Some will get there, but it won't come easy. When it comes to EV, Tesla is the only big boy for now.
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