Tesla has applied to the Chinese government to get permission to sell Model 3 vehicles made-in-China with new batteries. These batteries are cheaper and may further drop the price of the Tesla Model 3 made at the Giga Shanghai.
Moreover, these batteries have no cobalt, which is an expensive part of currently-used batteries.
Tesla has talked about phasing out cobalt in its batteries in the past, and its NCA battery cells already use less cobalt than most other cells of similar chemistry.
The main disadvantage of LFP batteries is their lower-energy density, but CATL, which is believed to be Tesla’s supplier, has made improvements in LFP energy density and longevity.
Tesla also just reached another milestone at Giga Berlin, cutting the piles it hammered last week so it can test the load.
Armen Hareyan is the founder and the Editor in Chief of Torque News. He founded TorqueNews.com in 2010, which since then has been publishing expert news and analysis about the automotive industry. He can be reached at Torque News Twitter, Facebok, Linkedin and Youtube.
