Tesla CEO Elon Musk will announce a ‘million-mile battery’ on the company’s live-streamed ‘Battery Day’ today.
The mega battery will power Tesla’s upcoming electric vehicles, including the heavy-duty semi-truck and the futuristic Cybertruck, for at least a million miles.
Million-mile batteries can log over a million miles over their lifetime, rather than powering a car for a million-mile trip without recharging.
However, they would help Tesla cars rack up mega mileage that far exceeds the average lifespan of other electric vehicles, which is estimated to be around 200,000 miles.
The million-mile battery, which is expected to increase acceptance of Tesla electric cars, is expected to be revealed along with other ‘exciting things’ today, Musk has joked.
These ads are speculated to include ways to pack more power into battery cells, lower production costs, and dramatically extend battery life.
Battery Day will be broadcast live from 1:30 PM Pacific Time (9:30 PM BST) on the Tesla website.
Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk said what is announced today will not reach serious high volume production until 2022, expected to be a million mile battery
Today’s Tesla reveal will “ affect the Semi, Cybertruck and Roadster, ” three upcoming vehicles the firm is racing to finish production in.
Musk said in a tweet that the battery upgrades to be unveiled won’t be in high-volume production until 2022.
“Important note on Tesla’s battery day to be released tomorrow,” Musk said in a tweet early Tuesday.
“This affects long-term production, especially Semi, Cybertruck and Roadster, but what we announce will not reach serious high-volume production until 2022.”
In a tweet earlier this month, Musk said that “a lot of exciting things will be revealed on Battery Day.”
Tesla wants to take over the production of its batteries according to a previous CNBC report, replacing those made by Panasonic.
Analysts expect Musk to announce long-rumored plans for Tesla to produce its own battery cells as it seeks to cement its lead over rivals such as General Motors and Volkswagen.
Lithium-ion batteries for Tesla models are currently manufactured by Panasonic at the electric vehicle company’s ‘gigafactory’ in Nevada.
But Tesla wants to start manufacturing batteries on its own and is working to produce new and larger cells at its Fremont facility in California, Reuters reports.
The company is focusing its efforts on manufacturing lithium-ion batteries in order to be able to produce them in large volumes.
The new cells will reportedly be 16.6-inches in diameter, compared to 0.8-inch cells made at its joint battery factory with Panasonic that are used in Tesla Model 3 vehicles.
Today’s Tesla reveal “ will affect the Semi, Cybertruck and Roadster ” (pictured) – Three upcoming vehicles the company is racing to finish production
Tesla also plans to build its own battery research and manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, government documents revealed in June, under a project dubbed ‘Roadrunner’.
Tesla, which currently has a ‘small-scale’ battery manufacturing operation in Fremont, sought approval from the city government to build an expanded battery operation, Reuters reported.
Some experts believe that today’s announcements could take years for the firm to put into operation.
“We know that Tesla is going to promote its technology and needs to do so if Semi and Cybertruck are the next platforms that require high-density solutions,” Canaccord analyst Jed Dorsheimer said in a note to investors, cited by AFP.
“But like most things about Tesla, the devil will be in the details, which sadly will take some time to realize.”
The mega battery will power Tesla’s upcoming electric vehicles, including the heavy-duty semi truck (pictured)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is taking on the heavy-duty pickup truck market with the Cybertruck electric vehicle
Musk’s ‘Cybertruck’, which looks like an armored vehicle with a futuristic angular body in metallic gray, will go into production in 2021.
The truck, which Musk says will cost $ 39,900 (£ 31,000) or more, will have an estimated battery range of up to 500 miles.
Tesla boasts that the car’s nearly impenetrable monochrome exoskeleton provides passengers with maximum protection, along with ultra-tough glass that absorbs and redirects the force of impact.
The $ 200,000 Roadster sports car, an updated version of Tesla’s first production vehicle of 2008, can travel 620 miles on a single charge – a new record for an electric vehicle.
Its top speed is over 250 mph, which would make it the fastest overall production car.
Meanwhile, the Semi, which was introduced in 2017, is a long silver cargo truck that can hit 60 miles per hour with a load of 80,000 pounds.
It has Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving system, designed to keep a vehicle in its lane without swerving, and it can move from one highway to another without human intervention.
Today’s battery event was originally planned for April this year, but was delayed due to the pandemic.
WHAT IS THE TESLA ‘GIGAFACTORY’?
Tesla’s ‘Gigafactory’ is located on Electric Avenue in Sparks, Nevada.
The name of the factory comes from ‘giga’, a unit of measurement that represents billions.
A gigawatt hour is equivalent to generating a billion watts during an hour, a million times more than a kilowatt hour.
Tesla says the factory will produce 35 gigawatt hours of batteries by 2018.
The current structure has a footprint of 1.9 million square feet, housing 4.9 million square feet of operating space on multiple floors.
It is currently 30 percent complete, and once complete, it will be the largest building in the world.
That is the equivalent of all world production in 2014.
New York City uses about 52 gigawatt hours of energy per year.
Upon completion in 2020, the factory will become one of the largest buildings in the world, with a final size of 10 million square feet.
The current structure is already 1.9 million square feet in size, housing 4.9 million square feet of operating space on multiple floors.
“Once it’s complete, we expect the Gigafactory to be the largest building in the world,” Tesla said.
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