Image: Tesla
Tesla has applied for a permit to build a cathode factory in Austin, at Giga Texas. The company is acting on an earlier plan to provide cathodes for its 4680 batteries, which will help lower supply chain costs and simplify manufacturing.
Tesla on Wednesday applied for a permit to expand its existing auto plant—Giga Texas—with the construction of a new building to produce cathodes for battery production, reported Reuters, citing city documents and a spokesperson. According to the city, it will measure almost 1.6 million square feet. In an application for a building permit in Austin, under the program name “Cathode” listed the Colorado River Project LLC as a co-applicant. This is the name Tesla used throughout the state and local building permit process for its new factory in Texas.
“I can confirm that this is for the Tesla project and this permit is for a cathode building,” a spokeswoman for the city’s development services department said on Thursday, adding that the city did not have further information.
One of Tesla's main goals is to lower the price of electric vehicles in order to make them more affordable to the general public. One of the key reasons for the higher cost of EVs has been the cost of producing battery cells. At Battery Day, which took place in 2020, Tesla announced that it will be able to seriously reduce its cost to produce this critical element of EVs.
“We don't have an affordable car,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said. “We will have that in the future. But to do that we have to bring down the cost of the batteries."
This will be possible thanks to several components:
- cell design
- cell factory
- anode materials
- cathode materials
- cell vehicle integration
Improvements in each of these areas will allow the company to reduce the cost of producing batteries by a massive 56% $/kWh, compared to current prices. While Tesla has already made progress on some points, launching its own cathode factory will bring the manufacturer even closer to achieving its goal.
© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
