Tesla: Soon own battery cell production ?
13. Februar 2020Tesla: Soon own battery cell production ?
Berlin, February 13, 2020
It’s no secret that Tesla CEO Elon Musk places great value on reducing costs for each of his products in production. This was particularly important when building the Space-X rocket. And because it is now certain (e.g. according to studies by IHS Markit) that the battery pack and the battery cells are the main cost components in an electric vehicle, it was clear that Tesla, which procures its battery cells from Panasonic, will eventually manufacture the battery cells in-house Directed. However, the management felt at least as negative the dependence on the battery manufacturers.
In the meantime there are hardly any doubters that Musk and his team have come very close to the goal. These include: 1. The CEO has indicated in many discussions that he intends to make Tesla as „vertically integrated“ as possible. That means: Tesla will develop, manufacture and sell everything that is possible. 2. Tesla takes over specialists from battery cell production: the first is Maxwell – a supercapacitor manufacturer with battery cell technology. * Next up is Hibar **, a company that specializes in the manufacture of systems for the production of battery cells. 3. Several vacancies from Tesla clearly refer to cell manufacturing as a new “product line” for the company. 4. Rumors that Tesla is building a pilot battery cell production line in Fremont are now factual. This emerges from a new job advertisement, which clearly shows that Tesla is about to start cell production: „The Tesla Group for Cell Manufacturing Technology is looking for a highly motivated development engineer for devices to accelerate our program for the production of next-generation battery cells. This role will play a role in the design, development, commissioning and commissioning of high throughput devices and at the same time work in a cross-functional team to test, validate and introduce changes in process and product design. 5. Other job openings also show plans for Tesla to produce its own battery cells in Europe:
“Tesla’s Cell Engineering group is looking for a highly motivated person to program new projects in cell manufacturing and plant engineering. This is a cross-functional role that requires coordination between many different groups inside and outside of Tesla. They will drive the development and use of new manufacturing plants and processes, as well as the planning and execution of the expansion of the new cell production in Europe. Also build productive relationships with external suppliers and relevant agencies. “6. Tesla recently patented a new chemistry for better, more durable, and cheaper battery cells.
The people around Musk have not denied that there are plans to produce battery cells in the gigafabrik near Berlin. But they left the public in the dark about whether they are planning a partnership with a battery manufacturer like Panasonic in Giga Nevada or the production of their own cells. Against the background described above, there is more to be said for in-house production.
Tesla is currently buying Panasonic cells from Japan for Model S and Model X and Panasonic cells from Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada for Model 3.
* see the following explanation from Tesla:
https://ir.tesla.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tesla-completes-acquisition-maxwell-technologies,
as well as: https://www.maxwell.com/;
Background information on the ultracapacitors here: https://www.hy-line.de/produkte/cat30/superkondensatoren/
** You can read everything about the Canadian company here:
