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Tesla to sell battery tech to other manufacturers

 
1 962 views May 22, 2007
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Tesla to sell battery tech to other manufacturers

Tesla to sell battery tech to other manufacturers

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Tesla Motors, the company behind the electric-powered Tesla Roadster, has formed the separate Tesla Energy Group to design and sell what it calls Energy Storage Systems (ESS). The ESS is basically a large collection of lithium ion battery packs made from smaller individual cells.

When designing the ESS used in the Tesla Roadster, developers were faced with an inherent problem of lithium ion batteries. Lithium is an unstable metal, especially during charging, and has the potential to harm users by catching on fire. Eventually, Tesla designed a suitable battery but then faced the challenge of producing them on a large scale, economically and reliably.

After seven different designs, developers came up with what they thought to be a good, safe and reliable design. Word quickly spread, and now there are a number of manufacturers asking about the technology including several major auto companies.

The Tesla Energy Group has now been formed and will be working to provide ESS technology to other companies and at the same time reducing the cost of the technology by driving up the volume of cells used in cars more quickly, eventually shifting demand towards electric vehicles.



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Comment (1)

  1. By Mark Reynolds Posted: 8/10/2008 1:14am PDT

    I don't think Tesla's Lithium battery is very practical because it is too costly and complex for mass produced EVs or conversion kits for EVs. As I understand it, Tesla's battery pack is built from about 6000 small flashlight-battery sized Lithium cells in what must be a nightmare grouping of series-parallel combinations. They are probably all hand soldered. What a mess.

    I think I have found a useful battery, however:

    I found a Chinese battery that could break the present stranglehold on battery sources for EVs, hopefully available to the EV conversion market. It is a large format Lithium cell of the long lasting and "safe" chemistry, LiFePO4. Here is the link for a 90AH single cell:

    http://www.thunder-sky.com/pdf/TS-LFP90.pdf

    I have suspected that it would be the Chinese that would actually build EVs as I think (hope) they are independent from the Western business forces, the marriage of auto manufactureres and oil companies, that have blocked EVs so successfully in our great land. I have been to China on business and I have seen the rapid industrialized growth presently taking place there. I don't they will allow themselves to be locked into petroleum to the extent that we are, even though they are buying oil producs in increasing amounts. They will soon offset this with EVs.

    Chinese Lithium batteries, 24V, 36V, and 48V, are already for sale on EBAY for electric bikes, and they are priced at about 1/3 the cost of American ones.

    It may be unpatriotic to cheer-on and wish for solid market success for a Chinese firm that may flood our market with products, but in the area of EV's I do cheer them since it's apparent that our companies will only build EVs reluctantly (and so far, have not).
     
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