Ontario-based company brings specialist battery manufacturing expertise to global EV giant amid talk of “Tesla’s secret battery lab”
Tesla Inc. is expanding into Canada with the purchase of a Richmond Hill, Ont., company specializing in battery manufacturing, Hibar Systems Ltd.And from electrek, October 5:
The quiet purchase — not previously reported — happened between July and October of this year, public records show.
The acquisition comes at a pivotal time for Tesla, as the Palo Alto, Calif.-based electric carmaker is known to be ramping up its own battery manufacturing efforts. That work has another Canadian connection — a five-year research agreement with Jeff Dahn, a Dalhousie University physicist and global research leader in lithium-ion batteries.
Tesla has not yet responded to a request from Electric Autonomy Canada for comment on the deal. Iain McColl, the president and CEO of Hibar Systems, referred this reporter to Tesla when contacted.
Lobbyist registration
Federal lobby registration documents, available on the government’s lobbyist registry database, show that in July 2019, Tesla Motors Canada ULC listed no subsidiary companies in its filing to lobby the government on various issues surrounding electric vehicles and infrastructure.
On October 2, 2019 a new filing was made that lists Hibar as a subsidiary with direct interest in the outcome of Tesla’s undertakings with the government of Canada.
Sometime after Sept. 16, Hibar also took down its operating website and replaced it with a single information page. But on the former website, in a section outlining its battery manufacturing capabilities, the company said 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 Systems was founded in the early 1970s by German-Canadian engineer Heinz Barall as a leader in precision-making of small cell batteries through a highly mechanized pump injection system.
Global renown
The company grew to global renown in the battery industry and has seen a 600 per cent increase in revenues since its inception, according to a 2018 Report on Business interview with CEO Iain McColl.
Despite its industry acclaim, Hibar is hardly a household name in Canada. It most recently drew headlines when it was one of three Greater Toronto Area companies to receive grant funding through the federal National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program in April 2019....MUCH MORE
...Tesla Battery Cell Manufacturing
The acquisition also comes at a time when it’s becoming obvious that Tesla is working to establish its own battery cell manufacturing capacity.
After working with Panasonic for years and now recently adding LG Chem as a supplier for battery cells, the automaker recently all but confirmed that it’s going to manufacture its own battery cells.
Earlier this year, Tesla acquired an ultracapacitor manufacturer called Maxwell, but it has been speculated that the acquisition is more likely related to the company’s new Li-ion electrode technology.
Last month, we reported on Tesla starting to list jobs for battery cell manufacturing
Now with the acquisition of Hibar, Tesla also owns a company with expertise in making battery cell production equipment....MORE
