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Pardon me for being overly pedantic (although that's perhaps ok on HN), but they are not making their own batteries, are they? They probably purchase Li-Ion ele
by Florin_Andrei 13y ago
Pardon me for being overly pedantic (although that's perhaps ok on HN), but they are not making their own batteries, are they? They probably purchase Li-Ion elements from some other entity.
But I see your point, I think. They are building the entire infrastructure that goes with the electric car, not just the car itself. I agree that's very smart.
- ethanbond 13y agoYeah, you're right. I don't believe they're building their own cells, true. But all the wiring for the types of cells they use, and especially the drivetrain, are proprietary, unique, and highly advantageous. I guess it would be more correct to say "Tesla is a battery tech company." Still, people are too fixated on the fact that Tesla makes luxury cars. Much more important is the fact that they make very efficient, high performance, safe energy systems.
- tadfisher 13y agoTesla purchases 18650 battery cells from Panasonic (the same cells I use in my e-cigarette, in fact). What they have developed, however, is a battery management system that surpasses just about everything else on the current market, and that is what other car companies (or airplane manufacturers, etc) will be licensing from them in the future.
- Florin_Andrei 13y ago> a battery management system that surpasses just about everything else on the current market In what way is it better?
- tadfisher 13y agoThey have a proprietary wiring solution and a cooling system that works very well at preventing problems with one or a small batch of cells from spreading to the rest of the pack. On top of that is proprietary software that manages charging this system, and allows for things like quick charging without exploding the cells, which is no small feat for 60+ kWh.