Tesla On The Verge Of Closing Deal On Significantly Cheaper EV Batteries

Tesla is in advanced stages of talks to use batteries from CATL that contain no cobalt - one of the most expensive metals in electric vehicle (EV) batteries - in cars made at its China plant, people familiar with the matter said.

Adoption would mark the first time for the U.S. automaker to include so-called lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in its lineup, as it seeks to lower production costs amid faltering overall EV sales in China.

Tesla has been talking to the Chinese manufacturer for more than a year to supply LFP batteries that will be cheaper than its existing batteries by a "double-digit percent," said a person directly involved in the matter, who was not authorized to speak with media and so declined to be identified.

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atc98092 - 2/18/2020 12:42:20 PM

+2 Boost

The question will be the energy density of the battery, and how it compares to the chemistry they are using now. Lower cost is great, but not at the expense of a significant range drop.

Agent009 - 2/18/2020 1:21:30 PM

0 Boost

very true

MDarringer - 2/18/2020 8:29:49 PM

0 Boost

I thought Tesla had it all figured out already and that all other car brands announced they were closing shop.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 2/18/2020 8:48:26 PM

+2 Boost

Iron - Fe - Ferrum : from the periodic table of elements.

Atomic Number : 26

Lithium Ferrum Phosphate batteries - LFP

Section_31_JTK - 2/18/2020 10:15:37 PM

0 Boost

Time to short Cobalt!

SanJoseDriver - 2/18/2020 11:43:07 PM

+2 Boost

Wouldn't do that since most other automakers are highly dependent on Cobalt.

I think this is what will REALLY drop the price of batteries if Tesla can get it working at scale: https://chargedevs.com/newswire/maxwells-teflon-fibrilizing-electrode-process-could-save-tesla-big-bucks-on-battery-manufacture/

Maxwell has shown they can bump up density by about 50% using this tech, and it is already how they develop supercapacitors. Even if Tesla is really conservative with rolling this out, they should be able to cut cost by 25%-30% on their own cells or license the tech to Panasonic and CATL in exchange for cost reductions.

stiffy - 2/19/2020 4:19:26 AM

+2 Boost

I installed LiFePO4 batteries for my home security and CCTV system as a backup. It is allot safer than conventional Lithium Iron batteries, which can suffer from "thermal runaway" under certain conditions.