Why Tesla's grid batteries will use two different chemistries
In contrast, Musk said that Tesla will use a lithium-ion battery with a nickel, manganese, cobalt oxide cathode for its grid battery. Called an NMC battery, it’s meant to be used for daily cycling for a home, business, or certain types of clean power. “There’s quite a lot of manganese in there,” Musk said. (The Tesla website specs for this battery are 7 kWh battery for $3,000.)
As mentioned, the second most-common use for manganese is in the battery sector and manganese oxides are currently used in the making of three types of batteries: alkaline, disposable lithium and rechargeable lithium-ion. Demand for the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which are used for powering electric cars, has made manganese oxide the fastest growing in the manganese sector.
Using manganese oxide as the cathode material in lithium ion batteries has results in the lithiated manganese dioxide (LMD) battery, which has higher capacities, a high energy density and a high life cycle. These LMD batteries were first used for power tools, but the success in that industry paved the way for the electric vehicle sector. Considering the growing popularity of both hybrid and battery electric vehicles, it also means the demand for manganese oxide will continue to grow.
