The world’s largest battery maker says Elon Musk’s 4680 cell ‘goes to fail’ Leave a comment

Robin Zeng, the founding father of the world’s largest EV battery firm, says Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s large wager on 4680 cylindrical cell expertise “goes to fail and by no means achieve success.” Zeng, the chairman of China’s Modern Amperex Know-how (CATL), tells Reuters that when Musk visited China in April, “We had a really large debate, and I confirmed him. He was silent. He doesn’t know how one can make a battery.”

Tesla’s “tabless” 4680 cells, that are utilized in a few of its vehicles, together with the Cybertruck, are purported to have “5 instances” extra vitality capability, and the corporate introduced in September it had produced 100 million of them. A current report by The Data stated Musk had given the group engaged on the batteries an finish of the yr deadline to take care of prices and different issues.

CATL batteries, in the meantime, go inside every part from Tesla autos in China to Ford EVs in North America just like the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning. The corporate makes a speciality of lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP), which usually don’t get as a lot vary as numerous cylindrical cell models utilized in many Tesla autos.

Whereas Zeng wasn’t impressed with Musk’s battery information, he thought he was good with chips, software program, {hardware}, and “mechanical issues.”

Zeng additionally commented that Musk’s downside is “overpromising” timelines, which he usually does habitually, particularly concerning Full Self-Driving expertise. “Perhaps one thing wants 5 years. However he says two years. I undoubtedly requested him why. He advised me he wished to push folks.”