TESLA

Tesla's secret batteries seek to reformulate electric car costs

Tesla plans to implement a new low-cost, long-lasting battery in its Model 3 in China by early next year, which it hopes will make the cost of electric vehicles in line with gasoline-powered ones and allow EV batteries to have a second and third life on the power grid.
For months, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been teasing investors and rivals with promises to reveal significant advances in battery technology during a "battery day" at the end of May.
New low-cost batteries designed to have a million-mile range (about 1.6 million kilometers) and allow Tesla vehicles to be sold at a profit for the same price or less than a gasoline vehicle are part of Musk's plan, people familiar with the plans told Reuters.
With a global fleet of more than 1 million electric vehicles capable of connecting and sharing power with the grid, Tesla's goal is to achieve the status of an energy company, competing with traditional energy suppliers such as Pacific Gas & Electric and Tokyo Electric Power, those sources said.
The new battery, which is at the heart of Tesla's strategy, was developed in conjunction with Contemporary Amperex Technology and implements the technology developed by Tesla in collaboration with a team of academic battery experts recruited by Musk, three people said.
Eventually, improved versions of the battery, with higher energy density and storage capacity and even lower costs, will be introduced into additional vehicles in other markets, including North America, the sources said.
Tesla's plan to launch the new battery first in China and its broader strategy of repositioning the company has not been previously reported. Tesla declined to comment.
Tesla also plans to implement new processes for automated, high-speed production, designed to reduce labor costs and increase production at the company's "terafactories," about 30 times the size of Nevada's " gigafactory – - a strategy reported in late April for analysts by Musk.
Tesla is working on the recycling and recovery of expensive metals such as nickel, cobalt and lithium, through its affiliate Redwood Materials, as well as on new “second life " applications of electric vehicle batteries in grid storage systems, such as the one Tesla built in South Australia in 2017. The automaker also said it wants to provide electricity to consumers and businesses, but did not provide details.
Together, advances in battery technology, the strategy of expanding the ways in which electric vehicle batteries can be used, and the automation of large-scale production, aim at the same goal: to reformulate the financial mathematics that until now made an electric car cost most consumers more expensive than sticking to traditional internal combustion vehicles.
Tesla reported operating profit for three consecutive quarters, nearly doubling the price of its shares this year. Still, Musk's ambitious expansion plans depend on increased profit margins and sales volume.
“We really need to ensure a very sharp curve in battery production and continue to improve the cost per kilowatt-hour of batteries – this is very fundamental and extremely difficult” " Musk told investors in January.
“We have to scale the production of batteries to insane levels, which people can not even understand today.”

Autonews