Tesla to Mine own Battery Metals, page-9

Musk’s Battery Promise Falls Flat With Investors


New York | Tesla is working on cheaper, more powerful batteries for its electric cars, but many of the required innovations are still works in progress, chief executive Elon Musk said at a muchanticipated presentation at the company’s California factory. The advances could ultimately cut battery costs more than 50 per cent and increase the distance Tesla’s vehicles can travel by nearly as much. That would set the stage for the company to make a ‘‘ compelling’ ’ $US25,000 ($35,000) electric vehicle three years from now, Mr Musk said, speaking to a parking lot full of Tesla owners in their vehicles, honking in approval. But Musk, who has a reputation for promising game-changing innovations that often take far longer than expected or never arrive, said the company had not yet made the advances needed to get to that point. Investors were hoping that that the CEO would announce a major technical breakthrough, in part because of the way Tesla had pitched the event that took place on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) event, which it called ‘‘ Battery Day’’ . Tesla’s stock fell about 7 per cent in after-hours trading on Tuesday in the US after falling more than 5 per cent in regular trading. As anticipation for the presentation built in recent days, Mr Musk sought to temper expectations, writing on Twitter on Monday that the battery announcement would affect long-term production of Tesla’s vehicles, including several that have yet to be introduced , but would not have an immediate effect on its business. He also said that despite pushing the battery cell suppliers Panasonic, LG and CATL to move ‘‘ at maximum speed’’ , Tesla expected battery shortages starting in 2022. The company is piloting production of batteries at its car factory in Fremont , California, and plans to build a cathode production plant somewhere in North America, Mr Musk and Drew Baglino, senior vice-president of energy engineering, said at the event. ‘‘ It just really bodes well for the future, and it means that the long-term scaling of Tesla and the sustainable energy products we make will be massively increased,’’ Mr Musk said. Battery efficiency is central to success in the electric car market. The cost of batteries typically is the single biggest expense in producing such cars. And a vehicle’s range – the distance it can travel on a single charge – is critically important. A longer range means less worry about hunting for a charging station. Tesla has an edge, for now. The company’s Model S Long Range Plus can go 650kms without recharging, much farther than electric cars made by Audi, General Motors and Jaguar. But an upstart rival, Lucid Air, says it has developed a car that can go more than 800kms on a single charge.