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Published: 22 Sep 2020, 08:03
The Model 3 and Tesla Powerwalls were showcased at the Smart Grid Expo in early 2020, Tokyo, Japan. Image: Andy Colthorpe / Solar Media.
Regardless of technology or strategy announcements emerging from Tesla’s Battery Day, speculation that the company will reduce partners’ battery cell purchases as a result is incorrect, CEO Elon Musk said.
With battery day postponed from the first quarter of this year, the company will present its latest ‘big reveal’ later today. Industry commentators and the media have made their own predictions about what Tesla will show.
These assumptions have included a one million mile range electric vehicle (EV) battery pack on a full charge to improve the ways to monitor and manage batteries and allow them to participate in electricity markets using the trading software platform. patented power plant, AutoBidder.
Others have stated that Tesla’s 2019 purchase of supercapacitor maker Maxwell Technologies could be key, with Maxwell also behind a proprietary ‘dry cell’ process to make batteries without the need for the expensive and complicated drying step, which could improve the quality and support of battery production. even higher volume manufacturing.
What Musk seemed to allude to was speculation that Tesla will take vertical integration for battery manufacturing – that is, the manufacturing of battery cells, as well as packages and other equipment themselves – to higher levels. The media and analysts have argued that this could mean that the terms of partnerships with major providers, some of which have been fully signed recently, could suddenly and radically change.
Musk took Twitter yesterday to leave an “important note on Tesla’s battery day presentation tomorrow.” He said long-term production, especially for Tesla’s electric semi-trailer, Cybertruck and Roadster next-gen electric products would be affected by what will be released, but that “what we announced will not reach serious high-volume production. until 2022 “. .
“We intend to increase, not reduce, battery cell purchases from Panasonic, LG and CATL (possibly other partners as well),” added Musk.
“However, even with our cell suppliers running at full speed, we still anticipate significant shortages in 2022 and beyond, unless we also take action ourselves.”
Musk, who in recent months appeared to position himself as something of a Twitter ‘expert’ on everything from the epidemiology behind the coronavirus pandemic to the human brain, went on to say that “the extreme difficulty of scaling the production of new technology does not it is well understood. “
“It is 1000% to 10,000% more difficult than making some prototypes. The machine that makes the machine is much harder than the machine itself. “
More to follow …
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