Audi Suspends Electric Vehicle Production Due To Battery Shortage

Today in “news that affects all electric vehicle manufacturers but definitely not Tesla stock”, Audi has announced that it has suspended production of its e-Tron electric SUV effective February 20 and won’t resume until some point early this week. 

The suspension has been a resolve of “resolving production issues”, which are mainly attributed to bottlenecks in battery supply, according to Business Insider. Audi uses battery cells that are made by LG Chem and ran into similar battery supply chain issues last year. 

Making sure companies have a steady battery supply has become a priority for many EV makers. Names like Jaguar and Hyundai have also faced similar supply chain issues with batteries in the past. Other automakers, like GM, Toyota and Tesla are investing in joint ventures or building their own battery manufacturing facilities.

As one example, GM and LG Chem announced a deal last year where they would both invest a cumulative $2.3 billion into a battery factory in Ohio. 

Audi said that the company sold roughly 26,400 of the SUVs last year but wouldn’t comment on delivery estimates for the upcoming year. The company reported sales of 5,369 e-Trons in the Americas last year, which represented 2.4% of sales in the region.

Regardless, it is yet another issue in the EV world that real auto manufacturers are subject to – and yet another one that, for some reason, doesn’t seem to catch up with Tesla. How can things at Tesla always be just fine and dandy while other auto manufacturers have to deal with these real world supply chain issues?

Last year, for instance, Tesla’s Elon Musk said that Panasonic was “holding back production” of the company’s Model 3 by not making enough batteries. The company’s stock has tripled since then, while Tesla has made no material progress in producing its own batteries.