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It isn't just production, but is also the chemistry. Tesla has the lowest amount of cobalt and nickel in their batteries of any battery manufacturer in the worl
by SEJeff 7y ago
It isn't just production, but is also the chemistry. Tesla has the lowest amount of cobalt and nickel in their batteries of any battery manufacturer in the world. It makes their batteries cheaper, but also use less rare earth minerals (which are difficult to get ahold of at their scales). Tesla isn't sharing their chemistry, which is demonstrably better than anything LG Chem or Samsung, etc has been able to come up with. As a result, their batteries are actually better.
You can scale up manufacturing of inferior batteries, but you still will have an inferior product.
- MagnumOpus 7y ago> Tesla isn't sharing their chemistry Isn't it Panasonic that manufactures the batteries and sells them to Tesla? Can't they sell the same batteries to everyone else too?
- AtlasBarfed 7y agoAnd right now Tesla / Panasonic is maxed out in their battery production (still a scale that all other manufacturers fundamentally don't have the ability to do, much less profitably). If/when Tesla increases battery production beyond its storage and car/semi lines of business, they will probably acquire/merge other car companies on the cheap. The only thing that can eliminate Tesla's advantage is a catch-up solid battery tech that everyone has access to, and even then Tesla will have lots of infrastructure advantages.
- SEJeff 7y agoThat’s not true. Panasonic disagreed with you in their latest earnings call. They’re ramping up for more production. I think Elon has stated they can ramp up 30-50% with the existing space.
- SEJeff 7y agoTesla develops the chemistry and has Panasonic manufacture the cells. Tesla builds the battery packs from Panasonic cells. The intellectual property for the chemistry is 100% Tesla’s and can not be reused by Panasonic for other manufacturers. In places where Panasonic builds batteries for other manufacturers, they use more traditional chemistry that includes more rare earth metals. Tesla’s chemistry is patented and can’t be duplicated. It is one of their several “moats”.
- clouddrover 7y agoVolkswagen is paying less than $100 per kWh for the batteries in their MEB cars. The mid-range Volkswagen ID.3 achieves slightly greater range at a lower price point than a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus. The supposed battery advantage isn't really there. So hopefully the Maxwell stuff is better.
- kenhwang 7y agoNo one _wants_ Tesla's chemistry. Tesla is the only automaker using the NCA chemistry. Sure, they're improving NCA quite admirably, but every other automaker would rather use and develop NMC. Traditional automakers would rather have batteries that don't easily overheat or catch fire when damaged (NMC) than cheaper batteries (NCA).
- NotSammyHagar 7y agotesla has proven by time that their batteries are excellent, last longer than competitors and have superior battery heating, cooling, and safety systems. Any car can catch on fire (they are all designed and built by humans). It's just one example, but here is a new porsche ev that caught fire https://electrek.co/2020/02/17/porsche-taycan-fire-burning-garage-florida/ https://electrek.co/2020/02/17/porsche-taycan-fire-burning-g.... Does porsche use nmc batteries? What is the problem with nca, where from experience the overall product is superior to all comers?