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Tesla started work on the Roadrunner project back in 2019. Its goal: to mass-produce a new battery cell that will be more energy-intensive and cheaper. At Tesla's Battery Day, the company unveiled the new 4680 tabless cells. The new project established a small battery factory in the Kato Road building in Fremont. And now we have learned, if we follow some assumptions, Tesla has used / is using the services of the German engineering company Saueressig to expand production capacity at the facility.

Several Saueressig teams are working alternately in the Kato building in order to expand the Roadrunner's production capacity to 10 gigawatt-hours by the end of 2021. The Saueressig teams are expected to work not only to expand the production facility in Fremont but already have orders for additional battery systems for Giga Berlin and Giga Texas, Teslamag reports, citing on their anonymous source.

In mid-November 2019, the German company posted on its website that it had expanded enormously in recent years, especially "thanks to a large order from an American car manufacturer." However, nowhere is it indicated that this is Tesla.

In the company description, we can find: "SAUERESSIG Engineering is engaged in special mechanical engineering, with a particular focus on calender technology. In the production workshops in Karl-Benz-Straße, machines and production lines for sheet materials such as embossing of handkerchiefs, kitchen rolls, toilet paper, plastic films, leatherette or battery electrodes."

The company also indicated that it is involved in the production of batteries and capacitors in the field of storage technologies for stationary and mobile terminals and offers special, patented solutions for various production processes that are unique in this form worldwide.

Saueressig says a number of electric vehicle manufacturers are showing interest in the company:

"Besides European car and battery manufacturers such as Varta, Volkswagen, Bosch, Continental or Dyson, manufacturers from America and Asia are also showing great interest in special machines from SAUERESSIG."

In June 2019, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden have developed a new battery cell production process that coats the electrodes of the energy storage cells with a dry film instead of liquid chemicals. In fact, this is what Tesla uses to create its new 4680 tabless cells. Saueressig has been listed as the company focused on improving this technology.

© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter

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