- Tesla has been engaged on its dry cathode expertise for years, even operating into growth points.
- Now, these growth efforts seem like materializing. The Cybertruck outfitted with dry cathodes is just some months away, in response to a brand new report.
- There’s rather a lot taking place at Tesla this yr: Robotaxi launch, the potential reveal of the inexpensive EV, upgrades to the Mannequin S and X and now, the introduction of recent battery varieties.
When Tesla launched the Cybertruck in late 2023, its $100,000 beginning worth was a giant departure from CEO Elon Musk’s long-promised $40,000 goal. Costs have since dropped by round $20,000 for the AWD and Cyberbeast trims, with the previous additionally qualifying for the federal tax credit score. Now, Tesla is reportedly gearing as much as swap in a brand new Cybertruck battery that might slash prices. Whether or not these financial savings will attain consumers stays unclear.
The automaker will equip the Cybertruck with dry cathodes later this yr, Bonne Eggleston, the senior director of Tesla’s 4680 cells, advised The Data.
Dry cathodes are made with out liquid solvents, that are usually utilized in typical lithium-ion batteries. As a substitute, the cathode materials is utilized in a dry powder kind, which in principle reduces complexity and manufacturing prices whereas being eco-friendly. This isn’t to be confused with dry electrolytes utilized in solid-state batteries—dry electrode batteries nonetheless use liquid electrolytes to shuttle electrons between cost and discharge cycles. However research counsel it’s a step in the direction of making solid-state batteries.
Tesla has indicated that this shift may shave $1 billion off manufacturing prices. An individual accustomed to the timeline mentioned Cybertrucks outfitted with the upgraded cells are in all probability a few months away.
Picture by: Tesla
At present, the Cybertruck is supplied with a 123-kilowatt-hour battery pack with nickel-cobalt-manganese cells. Final yr, it mentioned that 4 new battery varieties had been within the works for its next-generation fashions, together with the Robotaxi, the inexpensive EV and in addition the Cybertruck.
Nevertheless, the dry cathode program hit a number of roadblocks alongside the way in which. This effort dates again greater than 5 years, starting with Tesla’s 2019 acquisition of San Diego-based Maxwell Applied sciences for $218 million. The beginning-up’s dry cathode experience appeared promising on the time.
The automaker was as a result of the method would save manufacturing unit flooring area and eradicate the costly and labor-intensive methods of constructing conventional lithium-ion cells. Nevertheless, the uneven combination of dry cathode metals was damaging the metal rollers utilized in battery manufacturing. As per the report, Eggleston reiterated an issue Musk had talked about again in 2021, exhibiting how the cathode powder had dented practically your complete floor of the rollers.
After operating into these points, Tesla largely went silent about its dry cathode program. That was till final yr when it introduced a milestone.
“In July, we entered validation of car testing for our first prototype Cybertruck produced with in-house dry cathode 4680 cells—a serious price discount milestone as soon as ramped. Value discount throughout our product lineup stays a prime precedence,” Tesla mentioned in its Q2 2024 shareholder presentation.
Whereas this can probably be an incremental step moderately than a game-changer, it’s an indication that Tesla’s long-promised battery improvements could lastly materialize. We’d be taught extra throughout Tesla’s Q1 2025 earnings name in early April.
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