Tesla's Battery Day event could be a few weeks away. As such, it may be worth discussing Tesla's million-mile battery again--possibly an even better versions of it--and its benefits.
HyperChange (HC) and The Limiting Factor (TLF) outlined most of the benefits of Tesla using Maxwell's dry battery electrode technology in its cell production line. Just last week, HyperChange discovered Tesla job listings that indicate the EV automaker has a pilot battery cell manufacturing line at Fremont. More information on the rumored battery assembly line could be divulged during Battery Day.
During his talk with HyperChange, The Limiting Factor explained the difference between the traditional process of manufacturing batteries and Maxwell's dry battery electrode technology.
"Currently, batteries use what's called a wet slurry technology to coat the electrode foils for a battery. What they do is they mix a super toxic solvent with some binder, with some carbon and with the active material. And then they run it through a drying line and those drying lines are hundreds of feet long and consume huge amounts of energy," he explained.
In contrast, a binder, the carbon material, and the active material are mixed up in Maxwell's dry electrode technology, resulting in a dough or bubblegum-like substance which will run through a machine similar to an extruder. One of the benefits of using dry battery technology would be that it decreased the degradation of batteries. TLF elaborated in his explanation that the wet slurry and toxic solvent cause degradation in the battery, which compounds over time.
With TLF's explanation in mind, HyperChange linked Maxwell's technology to Tesla's million-mile battery. However, TLF explained Tesla's million-mile battery, which is based on Jeff Dahn's research, used wet slurry technology. He mused at the possibility of a battery reach more than a million-mile life expectancy if Tesla were to use both Jeff Dahn's research and Maxwell's technology for its battery cell manufacturing line.
The Limiting Factor enumerated other benefits to Tesla using Maxwell's dry battery technology, some of which are listed below:
Featured Image Credit: Tesla