Tesla has recently added Sunwoda Electronic Co. as its fifth global power battery supplier, according to a report by 36kr, a Chinese technology and new economy platform.

Sunwoda is manufacturing third-generation lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells known for fast charging speed, and has begun shipping them to Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, according to the report. Those cells are going into Tesla cars built in Shanghai for export.

Tesla has a long-running relationship with China's CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Company), a global leader in renewable energy technology and the world's largest manufacturer of LFP and energy storage. It also sources LFP cells from BYD —including roughly 20 percent of the cells for its Shanghai Megafactory.

In September, Tesla signed a deal with China's EVE Energy to supply energy-storage cells for its European subsidiary from 2026 to 2030.

Industrial analyst Fred Lambert from Electrek said that by adding Sunwoda, "Tesla is prioritizing cost leverage over vertical integration" — the opposite of what CEO Elon Musk envisioned in 2020.

But Lambert considered Tesla's move "the right call" because Chinese LFP suppliers have been so efficient that it makes it "unnecessary" for Tesla to engineer its own.

Tesla is widely recognized as the largest single non-Chinese customer of the Chinese battery industry.

From multibillion-dollar joint ventures in Spain, Germany and Hungary to technology-licensing deals reshaping production in Michigan, the world's largest legacy automakers are increasingly dependent on Chinese cell chemistry, manufacturing scale and engineering talent.

They are racing to license, co-develop and source from Chinese battery champions — a realignment of the EV supply chain that puts Chinese chemistry, manufacturing know-how and capital at the center of the global EV transition.

European automakers have enjoyed the densest concentration of Chinese battery partnership outside Asia.

Global automotive group Stellantis formed a 50-50 joint venture with CATL to build a 4.1 billion euro ($4.8 billion) LFP gigafactory in Zaragoza, Spain. It is set to come online in late 2026 with capacity scaling toward 50 gigawatt-hours.

Stellantis makes American brands including Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler; European brands including Peugeot, Fiat, Citro?n, Opel and Vauxhall; and luxury brands such as Maserati, Alfa Romeo, DS Automobiles, Lancia and Abarth.

Volkswagen has gone further by becoming the largest shareholder of Gotion High-Tech, a major Chinese battery manufacturer. It recently expanded its holding to more than 26 percent with a roughly $1 billion investment to fund a 2 GWh solid-state battery line targeted at next-generation VW and Audi vehicles.

In November, Gotion began mass production of the "unified cell" that VW selected as the standard format across most of its EV lineup. It is the cornerstone of Volkswagen's strategy to reduce battery costs by up to 50 percent across its entire vehicle lineup.

Thomas Schmall, chief technology officer of Volkswagen, speaking at Gotion's Unified Cell delivery ceremony in China last November, said that with the LFP unified cells now being produced in China and Germany, Volkswagen is "prepared to supply next-generation, highly competitive battery technologies across all Volkswagen brands."

"This makes Gotion a cornerstone of our global 'make-and-buy' battery strategy," he said.

A separate joint venture with Slovakia-based InoBat, in which Gotion owns 25 percent, is building a 20 GWh European plant scheduled to open in 2026.

BMW's largest cell partner since 2018 has been CATL. It has pivoted to all-electric models with its launch of Neue Klasse from 2025, and relies heavily on three Chinese manufacturers — SVOLT, CATL and EVE Energy — for battery supply.

According to industrial reports, the three Chinese battery companies have been building plants in Germany and Hungary to exclusively supply its next-generation cells in cylindrical 46 millimeter format that was designed by BMW.

It's estimated that BMW's Chinese cell content will reach above 60 percent of its global battery volume by 2027 when SVOLT, CATL and EVE are all fully ramped.

Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, told Xinhua News Agency in September at the International Motor Show Germany in Munich that China's innovation is crucial for BMW's global strategy.

"Currently, the biggest innovations we see come out of China. Combining our strengths allows us to develop products that set new standards globally," Zipse said. "We have companies like CATL or EVE where we develop, blend and manufacture cells for our vehicles in China but also outside of China."

In February, BMW and CATL signed an agreement to jointly develop and pilot the EU's Battery Passport — a digital traceability framework that will be required for European battery sales under the EU Battery Regulation from 2027 onward.

This is significant because it's an infrastructure-grade collaboration that goes beyond cell supply into shared compliance and sustainability tooling, industrial experts pointed out.

Another German automaker, Mercedes, formed a relationship with China's EV battery industry by acquiring an equity stake in China's Farasis Energy, which supplies battery for Mercedes's flagship electric models. It also gets battery supplies from CATL's factory in Hungary.

In the US, Mercedes builds its EVs using cells from Envision AESC, a Chinese-owned battery maker.

In Asia, major automaker Toyota has a standing agreement with BYD to jointly develop battery-electric vehicles leveraging BYD's Blade Battery technology. Their partnership has produced China-market BEVs and is informing Toyota's broader LFP and solid-state roadmap.

It's another story in the US, where automakers are facing political pressure when it comes to using China's battery technology. That has led to far fewer US battery projects involving Chinese technology, compared to Europe.

In early 2023, Ford announced plans to build a $3.5 billion EV battery factory in Marshall, Michigan by licensing CATL's battery technology.

The deal immediately met challenges from US politicians who said that the deal could make an American company reliant on a Chinese company with links to Chinese military. In 2025, CATL was listed as a Chinese military company by the US Department of Defense.

The battery factory, known as BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, also faced legal challenges from a group of local residents who argued against the project over issues of environment, rural identity, public participation in decision making and national security.

Ford later scaled back the project and reduced its production capacity from 35 GWh to 20 GWh. Consequently, jobs were reduced to 1,700 from the planned 2,500.

Ford executives have repeatedly defended the project as the only viable path to building affordable LFP cells in the US at scale.

Lisa Drake, former VP at Ford and now president of Ford Energy, defended Ford's BlueOval Battery Park Michigan on various occasions.

She told Axios last June that "it probably would have taken us a decade to catch up and have LFP technology on our own with our own R&D."

"It's hard to innovate something when you've never seen it with your own eyes. That's why we need to bring it here," she said. "I'm convinced this is the right thing to do for the United States."

In December, Drake confirmed that Ford is widening the CATL relationship beyond automotive cells — Ford will use CATL-licensed LFP technology to manufacture stationary energy storage batteries at its Kentucky BlueOval SK facility.

"We have a licensing agreement, but we feel it's better to build these batteries in the United States with American workers, with our own Ford workers and understand the IP, than import them like they're being done today," Ford CEO Jim Farley recently told Bloomberg. "The best way to compete with China is to get close to the IP and then run the plants at Ford."

In August, General Motors confirmed it will import CATL LFP cells to power the second-generation Chevrolet Bolt, which begins production at GM's Fairfax, Kansas plant in late 2025 and arrives in dealerships in 2026 at roughly $30,000.

GM said this deal was a stopgap before American production of LFP batteries can pick up the pace and replace the Chinese imports.

Representative John Moolenaar from Michigan publicly attacked the deal, calling GM's decision "disappointing to not only its customers and employees, but also to the American people."

In January, GM said its Fairfax plant will be transitioned to make other vehicles in mid to late 2027. The Bolt will be a limited-run model, and its production will end once the Fairfax facility transition is complete.

The US lost more than $34 billion in clean energy investment in 2025, of which $21 billion came from the EV battery sector, according to an analysis by E2, a US policy advocacy group of business leaders, investors and professionals.

While US politicians are finding ways to restrict China's battery technology to be employed by US automakers, the recent 2026 Beijing Auto Show revealed that China's EV battery technology has taken another big step forward.

Industrial experts attending the show said that a dozen battery manufacturers participated the event with massive booths — some larger than automakers — indicating the importance and central role of batteries in EV production.

CATL revealed six new battery technologies, and BYD unveiled Blade Battery 2.0 with a 625-mile (1,000 kilometer) range. They, along with EVE Energy, revealed new EV batteries that can be fully charged in five to 10 minutes.

BMW chair Zipse was at the Beijing Auto Show. He said in a TV interview that the auto show was "innovative" and "future oriented"

Zipse told Reuters in February that ignoring China, the world's top auto market, would put at risk future economic success, and cooperation with Beijing was fundamental.

"Those who close their minds to China's enormous market and innovation potential are missing out on great opportunities for global growth and economic success," he was quoted as saying.