Saueressig said to set up cell production for Tesla

The German company Saueressig Engineering appears involved in setting up machines for Tesla battery cell production in Germany and the USA, a local media report suggest. It would not be the first time that the Californian company relied on engineering know-how from Germany.

The news comes from the German Teslamag which concludes from unnamed sources as well as older reports, that Saueressig, a mechanical engineering company based in Vreden, North Rhine-Westphalia, has been engaged to expand a pilot line located in Fremont already since September. Tesla indeed wants to build battery cells in the new 4680 format on said line and announced plans to expand to 100 GWh. According to Teslamag, it’s Saueressig teams that have been working on special machines in Fremont. The German company had already received orders for further plants in Grünheide and Texas, reports the blog.

Saueressig itself declined to comment. Teslamag found earlier statements and reports in which Saueressig mentions, a “major order from an American car manufacturer”. In the same statement, Saueressig mentioned dry coating of electrodes as well. Teslamag also drew a possible connection to a research project with Fraunhofer that aligns with Tesla’s goals but also referred to their source as possibly being “error-prone via detours”.

Adding to the suggestions, it would not be the first time for Tesla to turn to German engineering. Only at the beginning of October it became known that Tesla was planning a merger with the German company ATW (Assembly & Test Europe GmbH). Until now, the plant manufacturer has counted car manufacturers such as Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen among its customers. The company, which belongs to the Canadian company ATS Automation Tooling Systems, was actually highly profitable, but then got into economic difficulties due to the corona-related decline in orders and was already in the process of being wound up. The Neuwied site in Rhineland-Palatinate was to be closed. Then Tesla stepped in. In the meantime, the Federal Cartel Office has also approved the possible takeover as reported. There the procedure was listed as “Tesla / Tesla Grohmann Automation / ATS / Assembly & Test Europe (ATW)”. It is, therefore, open whether Tesla itself or its subsidiary Grohmann will merge with ATW.

Tesla acquired the German machine builder Grohmann from Prüm in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2017. Since then, the machine manufacturer has been operating under the name Tesla Grohmann Automation. Grohmann terminated previous business relations with BMW and Daimler after the takeover by Tesla.

With reporting by Nora Manthey.

teslamag.de (in German)