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Battery-supply deal for Toyota RAV4 EV to end: Tesla

By Korea Herald

Published : May 11, 2014 - 20:14

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Tesla Motors Inc., the electric-car maker planning to build the world’s largest battery plant, said its deal to supply Toyota Motor Corp. with battery packs and motors for a rechargeable crossover will conclude this year.

Toyota, which owns a 2.4 percent stake in Palo Alto, California-based Tesla, said in May 2012 it would buy the company’s components for 2,600 electric RAV4 EVs over three years. Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, had said he expected Toyota to extend the agreement that was initially worth as much as $100 million, based on a July 2011 filing.

“Toyota is expected to end the current RAV4 EV model this year,” Tesla said yesterday in a quarterly filing. While the supply deal generated $15.1 million of revenue for Tesla in the quarter that ended March 31, “our production activities under this program are expected to end in 2014,” Tesla said.

Conclusion of the Toyota program comes as Tesla expands global sales of Model S sedans, priced starting at $71,000, and readies the electric Model X crossover for delivery in 2015 as well as a lower-priced rechargeable sedan due in two to three years. The company also is ramping up supplies of components for investor Daimler AG’s electric Mercedes B-Class car as it plans a battery “gigafactory” to cut lithium-ion cell costs by 30 percent.

Models such as the RAV4 EV sell mainly in California, which requires large automakers to offer some pollution-free vehicles. Toyota has sold 1,594 electric RAV4s since 2012 through April, according to reports from the company.

In 2015, Toyota is to begin California sales of a hydrogen fuel cell sedan, another type of zero-emission vehicle that fulfills California’s ZEV mandate.

Tesla rose 2.1 percent to $182.26 yesterday at the close in New York and has gained 21 percent this year. Toyota’s American depositary receipts rose 0.7 percent to $108.87 in New York and have fallen 11 percent this year. (Bloomberg)