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They have an exclusive tech partnership with John B Goodenough (yes that is his real name), who is literally one of the inventors of lithium ion batteries. He's

by SEJeff 8y ago

They have an exclusive tech partnership with John B Goodenough (yes that is his real name), who is literally one of the inventors of lithium ion batteries. He's made a few breakthroughs[1] recently wrt max duty cycles, and only Tesla is getting that technology. It means their batteries will last longer than anyone else. It is one of the reasons the Tesla batteries have less nickel and cobalt, which is completely unrivalled and makes the tesla batteries cheaper to manufacturer. There are also patents around several of the chemistry specific things that ensures Tesla will in fact stand alone for some time in these areas. When it comes to battery tech, Tesla handily stands on their own. [1] https://www.inc.com/wanda-thibodeaux/the-inventor-of-lithium-ion-batteries-has-a-new-product-hint-tesla-will-love-it.html https://www.inc.com/wanda-thibodeaux/the-inventor-of-lithium...

sgift 8y ago
> Goodenough and his team aren't quite finished with the new battery. They've only created the glass-based anode. But they're working out kinks with the cathode, and soon they'll be able to make some large-scale cells. This seems like one of these sentences which you kind of miss on the first read and many years later when you wonder "what happened to that wonder battery?" "Remember the cathode we thought was almost done? Turns out it wasn't." Until they have produced that thing at scale it is still part of a long list of research products in the battery sector, which may never be available.
- SEJeff 8y ago
  But when they do, Tesla will be the first and only company to have it! Think about that for a moment. It makes it harder (read: more expensive) for the competition, when Tesla is already making better batteries (per independent analysts) than all of their competition.
  - ineedasername 8y ago
    If they do. Not when. And there are any number of other promising areas of battery research that another manufacturer might bring to fruition and would eliminate this competitive advantage. If we're speculating on breakthroughs, that's a sword that cuts both ways.
ineedasername 8y ago
"Good enough" is, I think, the operative phrase. Most people don't get their cars near to 100,000 miles before buying/leasing a new one. (people average a car per 6 years [0], about 13,000 miles/year[1]) If the cars keep most of their capacity that long, it won't matter all that much to the average consumer that Tesla keeps theirs better. I'm not saying Tesla wouldn't have a place in the market, only that other manufacturers are showing the potential to eat up most of the lower end market before Tesla ever gets there. [0]https://www.autotrader.com/car-shopping/buying-car-how-long-can-you-expect-car-last-240725 https://www.autotrader.com/car-shopping/buying-car-how-long-... [1]https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm
mrnobody_67 8y ago
Seems like there's new & better lithium ion battery tech in the pipeline - though not specific to Tesla: https://interestingengineering.com/new-lithium-ion-battery-breakthrough-could-double-energy-density https://interestingengineering.com/new-lithium-ion-battery-b...

by SEJeff 8y ago

sgift 8y ago

> Goodenough and his team aren't quite finished with the new battery. They've only created the glass-based anode. But they're working out kinks with the cathode, and soon they'll be able to make some large-scale cells. This seems like one of these sentences which you kind of miss on the first read and many years later when you wonder "what happened to that wonder battery?" "Remember the cathode we thought was almost done? Turns out it wasn't." Until they have produced that thing at scale it is still part of a long list of research products in the battery sector, which may never be available.

SEJeff 8y ago
But when they do, Tesla will be the first and only company to have it! Think about that for a moment. It makes it harder (read: more expensive) for the competition, when Tesla is already making better batteries (per independent analysts) than all of their competition.
- ineedasername 8y ago
  If they do. Not when. And there are any number of other promising areas of battery research that another manufacturer might bring to fruition and would eliminate this competitive advantage. If we're speculating on breakthroughs, that's a sword that cuts both ways.

ineedasername 8y ago

"Good enough" is, I think, the operative phrase. Most people don't get their cars near to 100,000 miles before buying/leasing a new one. (people average a car per 6 years [0], about 13,000 miles/year[1]) If the cars keep most of their capacity that long, it won't matter all that much to the average consumer that Tesla keeps theirs better. I'm not saying Tesla wouldn't have a place in the market, only that other manufacturers are showing the potential to eat up most of the lower end market before Tesla ever gets there. [0]https://www.autotrader.com/car-shopping/buying-car-how-long-can-you-expect-car-last-240725 https://www.autotrader.com/car-shopping/buying-car-how-long-... [1]https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm

mrnobody_67 8y ago

Seems like there's new & better lithium ion battery tech in the pipeline - though not specific to Tesla: https://interestingengineering.com/new-lithium-ion-battery-breakthrough-could-double-energy-density https://interestingengineering.com/new-lithium-ion-battery-b...