Tesla Battery Day will be one of the EV tech company’s biggest events this year. Talk of Terafactories have been circulating as excitement for Battery Day becomes palpable in the TSLA community. As it rapidly approaches, HyperChange (HC) and The Limiting Factor (TLF) got together to share their expectations and theories about Tesla Battery Day. Their first topic: Terafactories.
The two Tesla enthusiasts didn’t waste any time and immediately dived into a conversation about the company’s potential Terafactories in the future. “Tesla will reveal the machine that will allow them to scale to terawatt-hours, fulfilling the promise to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. We can’t do that unless you have factories that can crank out massive amounts of batteries. That’s why I’m excited about it,” replied TLF to HC’s question about his expectations for Battery Day.
During the Q1 2020 Earnings Call, Zachary Kirkhorn said that Tesla Gigafactories were getting larger and would continue to do so because of the multiple products the company has planned. With similar product lines and vertical integration in one facility, plus significant efficiencies, Tesla believes Gigafactories could grow in size over time, explained Kirkhorn.
“It could start being called Tera,” added Elon Musk.
Terafactories could increase Tesla’s battery capacity. Alleviating battery constraints would help the company expand its car production capacity, which will be essential with the Cybertruck and Semi’s delivery dates looming.
With the significance of battery capacity in mind, HyperChange brought up the theory of Tesla making its own cells. He pondered the benefits Tesla would reap, producing its own battery cells and probably even competing with Panasonic—a tried and tested battery manufacturer.
“I suspect that Tesla possibly has better engineering talent than Panasonic, and they can do things that Panasonic wouldn’t be able to do and do it better,” said TLF. He argued that Tesla would need more control over the battery manufacturing process to test and apply some of the technologies it has patented, gathered, and learned.
Panasonic—as a tried and tested battery manufacturer—has developed a process over the years that it might not be willing to change completely, especially given the fact that Tesla isn’t its only client. However, The Limiting Factor doesn’t think that Tesla would break its relationship with Panasonic and its other battery partners--LG Chem and CATL. Tesla’s partners would likely contribute to the Terafactories’ output, he mused.
Tesla Researchers Publish Hybrid lithium-Ion/Lithium Metal Cell Results Of Research Right Before Battery Day https://t.co/2ZPryPl9PS
— Tesmanian.com (@Tesmanian_com) May 4, 2020
Tesla will probably utilize the technologies it acquired from Maxwell and the ones Jeff Dahn has come up with to make its own cells. HyperChange theorized that Fremont already has a pilot cell production line after he found three new job positions listed on Tesla’s website. Fremont was looking for a Cell Engineer for cell physics modeling as well as a Production Process Engineer and Controls Engineer for Tesla’s Pilot Line Cell Manufacturing.
Terafactories and Fremont’s pilot cell production line are only a snippet of the news Tesla could announce on Battery Day. With Tesla exploring battery cell manufacturing, the advent of the electric era--where electric vehicles last a million miles and battery storage systems last for several decades--may be on the cusp of receiving a huge boost.
Featured Image Credit: elon_musk1531/Instagram
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