On the 17th, the U.S. government officially confirmed that Tesla is the partner in a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery supply agreement worth approximately KRW 6 trillion ($4.3 billion) signed by LG Energy Solution in July last year.

March 17, Tesla (TSLA) and South Korean battery giant LG Energy (850101) formally confirmed that they would jointly build an LFP battery (884309) plant in Lansing, Michigan, with an investment of $4.3 billion, to support the rapid expansion of Tesla’s (TSLA) energy storage (885921) system business. The US Department of the Interior formally confirmed the deal in a statement. Under the agreement, LG Energy (850101) will produce prismatic LFP batteries (884309) at its plant in Lansing, Michigan, US, and supply them for Tesla’s (TSLA) Megapack 3 energy storage (885921) systems. The Lansing plant is expected to begin operations in 2027. The move is intended to establish a domestic US battery supply chain and address the surge in electricity (562350) demand driven by AI (885728) data centers.

According to Cailian Press, ① Google and Tesla formed a “Grid Utilization Alliance,” and the AI power shortage logic is expected to continue playing out. ② Europe has already incurred about EUR 3 billion in additional fuel import spending, and the conflict may drive a new round of explosive demand for household ESS. ③ Demand for space-based PV is expected to see exponential growth, opening up brand-new growth opportunities for China’s PV producers.

Tesla plans to expand its Supercharger station in Yermo, California, deploying over 400 next-generation V4 stalls, making it the world's largest. The first of six phases will install 72 V4 stalls. Located between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, the site aims to alleviate charging congestion and features drive-through spots designed for the Cybertruck and trailers.

According to AXIOS, a new alliance formed by a group of companies including Google and Tesla will address energy affordability by making use of underutilized capacity on the power grid. As artificial intelligence data centers and other sources of demand drive electricity prices sharply higher, electricity affordability has become a central issue. The alliance, named Utilize, is expected to work with state lawmakers, regulators, utilities, and others to address electricity affordability by improving how the power grid operates, while also taking into account reliability of supply and the speed of construction. Alliance officials said they plan to soon release a study by Brattle Group showing that, through system improvements, US consumers could save as much as $180 billion over the next decade. Utilize’s members also include air-conditioning giant Carrier, deployment services company Sparkfund, power panel enterprise SPAN, and data center developer Verrus.

According to Teslamac on Feb. 25 (local time), select rear-wheel-drive (RWD) Model Y vehicles produced at Tesla’s Grünheide plant in Germany have been equipped with U.S.-made 4680 battery cells since January this year. The 4680-format batteries are produced at Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas in the United States.