Tesla’s Advantage With Its Battery Technology — Low Cost

It appears Tesla has an advantage over its rivals, such as GM and Porsche, when it comes to the new battery technology that it is developing. Tesla has long been a leader on EV batteries, for years seeming to have a significantly lower cost (cost per kWh of capacity) for batteries than others. A big part of that is because Tesla in-houses the work. It appears Tesla is making significant progress on this again with new developments.

The managing director of Cairn Energy Research Advisors, Sam Jaffe, recently noted that Tesla’s cost per kWh for battery packs was approaching $150/kWh last year while others were at a price of $200/kWh. Jaffe also tells CNBC that “Tesla has really revolutionized that part of the battery pack and made it much more sophisticated, and it gives them a competitive advantage.” Indeed. We definitely have a lot to look forward to on Tesla’s Battery Day.

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Ten or so years ago, the idea of owning an EV seemed rather absurd. EVs were known to be super expensive due to the battery costs, and since they were new, everyday Americans weren’t willing to spend the money to beta test them.

Fast forward ten years. Tesla has advanced the auto industry tremendously with EVs, and a big part of that was through a core component of EVs — the battery. By taking on the most challenging problems and creating solutions for them, Tesla is doing what it does so well — moving the world forward.

In 2019, Elon Musk spoke of a “1 million-mile battery pack” and that it would be in production “next year.” He’s also announced that Battery Day will be in April, and has said that Tesla’s April company talk would be at the Gigafactory in Buffalo, where Tesla makes Solarglass Roofs. Perhaps this is where Battery Day will be held as well?

There is much anticipation regarding Tesla battery developments following relatively recent acquisitions and promoted specs of coming models. What exactly is coming on the battery front from Tesla?