If there were any doubts about Teslas plans to build its own battery cells, news of the companys latest acquisition should lay them to rest.

The California carmaker has quietly acquired Ontario-based Hibar Systems, which specializes in battery manufacturing. The companies have made no official announcement, butElectric Autonomy Canadalearned from federal lobby registration documents that Hibar became a subsidiary of Tesla sometime between July and October.

Hibar Systems was founded in the early 1970s to make small-cell batteries, and has since become known in the industry for its production automation solutions. In April, the company received a $2-million grant from the National Research Council of Canada to develop a manufacturing system for mass storage batteries.

Hibar has manufacturing facilities in Europe, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and China. In 2014, the company said the Chinese market accounted for over 50 percent of its business.

The acquisition of Hibar, together with other recent news, makes it plain that Tesla is moving full speed ahead with plans to build its own battery cells. In May, Tesla completed its acquisition ofMaxwell Technologies, the developer of an innovative dry electrode technology that could save loads of money, time and factory space in the battery-making process.

Above: More on Tesla's recent acquisition of Hibar (YouTube:FrontSeatGamer)

In September, Tesla battery research partner Jeff Dahn and his teamreleased a paperdescribing a new million-mile battery cell. Tesla has begun to list openings for battery cell manufacturing-related jobs on its web site. In June,CNBCreported that, according to five current and recent employees, Tesla was developing its own cell manufacturing capacity at a secret skunkworks.

If theres any secret about Teslas battery-building ambitions, its hardly a well-kept one. At the companys annual shareholder meeting in June, Elon Musk said he wasnt ready to let the cat out of the bag yet, but said the company needed to look further down the [battery] supply chain, and might evenget into the mining business. CTO JB Straubel said, we need a large-scale solution to cell production, and VP of Technology Drew Baglino said, Were taking all the moves required to be masters of our own destiny here, technologically and otherwise. I think through all the experience weve developed with partners and otherwise, we will have solutions for this.

Electreks Fred Lambert believes the companys plans are quite ambitious and already quite far along into development, and surmises that Tesla might soon announce battery production lines at existing Maxwell or Hibar facilities.

Tesla plans to hold a Battery and Powertrain Investor Day early in 2020, and Tesla-watchers expect details of the companys battery strategy to be announced then.

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This article originally appeared inCharged. Author:Charles Morris. Sources:Electric Autonomy Canada,Electrek

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