No, Tesla might know how to assemble a battery pack for use in a car but their core competency isn't battery technology. Last time I checked the cells used in

No, Tesla might know how to assemble a battery pack for use in a car but their core competency isn't battery technology. Last time I checked the cells used in their cars are made by Panasonic. Also, I am pretty sure the Gigafactory is a partnership with Panasonic. There are companies, much larger and far more experienced than Tesla who have been working on battery technology for far longer. I've been flying model airplanes for thirty years. When electric flight was in it's infancy we used heavy NiCd battery packs. I had competition gliders with six pounds of NiCd batteries occupying a huge volume. Fast forward to a few years ago (about a decade?) when LiPo chemistry started to become available. Today I fly that same glider with a battery pack that is half the volume, a third of the weight, four times the energy content and probably twice the power delivery capability. Tesla didn't do that. Companies like Sanyo, Panasonic, Samsung and other battery makers did that. The primary market probably being portable computers and later smart phones and all manner of small portable devices. I doubt these companies have been sitting around doing nothing. They all know the next major market for them is in electric cars. Tesla does not manufacture their own cells, therefore it is probably safe to assume the next major evolutionary step in battery technology is likely to come for those who's core competency for decades has been energy storage chemistry. That said, Tesla and SpaceX are known for their out of the box approach to engineering. There's no reason to think that, perhaps, they might have a unique take on cell chemistry that might be that next-generation battery pack with twice the energy in half the volume. That remains to be seen. Here's the thing with physics and chemistry: They tend not to change just because you are a maverick. There's a lot of knowledge out there and Tesla does not have a monopoly on that. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see a US company own the next generation of battery technology. I just think that isn't likely to be the case.