$100 per kWh has been described as the price target for batteries to enable electric vehicles to reach a price parity with gasoline cars without subsidies.
If combined with mass production, it’s considered the “holy grail” of EV adoption since it would enable high-volume production of relatively affordable and/or high-margin electric cars.
For a few months now, Tesla has been rumored to be working on making its own battery cells for its electric vehicles.
It started with the acquisition of Maxwell, a supercapacitor manufacturer with some battery cell technology, and later, at its annual shareholder’s meeting, Tesla all but confirmed that it’s going to manufacture its own battery cells.
According to Electrek the secret project is called “Roadrunner,” and it will aim to achieve mass production of a new battery cell that will be more energy-dense and cheaper.
The cells are using technologies developed by Tesla’s internal teams, including work from its research lab in Canada led by Jeff Dahn, and new technologies recently acquired through the acquisition of Maxwell.
Maxwell’s dry electrode technology would enable Tesla to produce cheaper cells with higher-energy density that would enable them to use less batteries per vehicle and still achieve longer range
Tesla has already tested prototype cells under the Roadrunner secret project. It believes it can produce the cells in volume and use them in its vehicles and eventually in its stationary energy storage products.
The automaker has been developing manufacturing equipment in secrecy, like the pilot production line in Fremont, over the last few months.
With the introduction of the new battery cells, Tesla is also working on new module and battery pack improvements. It includes moving away from wire bonding on the cells and going with a laser-welded technology instead.
Reference- Electrek, Tesla’s Twitter handle