Electrify America has installed on-site, behind-the-meter battery energy storage systems at over 140 DC fast charging stations around the country, representing a total energy storage capacity of more than 30 megawatts. Electrek reports that these storage systems are Tesla Powerpacks. In 2019, the two companies announced a deal to deploy Powerpacks at over 100 EA… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "Tesla"
Chinese automakers adopting Tesla’s megacasting technology
Tesla’s megacasting technique—using giant casting machines to make car bodies with just a few massive cast parts—greatly reduces the complexity of the body assembly process, saving costs and improving efficiency. Tesla is producing Model Y at Gigafactory Texas using an enormous Giga Press to cast a single rear body piece, which replaced 70 different parts…. Read more »
Tesla applies for regulatory approval for Gigafactory Texas, production on track for end of this year
Tesla has applied to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for regulatory approval for the first phase of Gigafactory Texas. The filed documents reveal Tesla’s planned completion date and budget. The next chapter in Tesla’s history will center on the company’s two new factories: Gigafactory Texas in Austin and Gigafactory Berlin in Germany. The… Read more »
Is Tesla planning to produce batteries in Quebec?
The Canadian province of Québec seems to be an ideal location for large-scale battery production—it is rich in critical battery metals, and has plenty of cheap and clean hydropower. The provincial government is heavily incentivizing the extraction of key minerals such as lithium, nickel and graphite, and recently announced plans to invest up to 3… Read more »
Tesla launches home charger with J1772 connector
Tesla’s recent move to open its Supercharger stations to other brands’ EVs was momentous, but expected—it was an inevitable step forward that the company announced some months ago. But wait—the Ronco of Renewable Transport has just done something more surprising. It plans to offer a new version of its Wall Connector home charger that’s equipped… Read more »
Book review—Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century
Considering the massive media coverage of Tesla over the last decade, it may seem surprising that there aren’t more books about the company. When I first released my history of Tesla in 2014, I expected to have a short window of exclusivity before a “real” book—one with a hard cover and celebrity blurbs on the… Read more »
Tesla opens its first Superchargers to drivers of other EVs
In a move that has wide-reaching implications for the future of the EV market, Tesla has launched a “Non-Tesla Supercharger pilot” at 10 locations in the Netherlands. The company announced in July that it would open its vaunted Supercharger network to drivers of other companies’ EVs. The 10 stations are now accessible to Dutch non-Tesla… Read more »
There’s more! Hertz offers Teslas to Uber drivers for $299 per week
Hertz appears to be taking a page from Tesla’s marketing playbook, using the automaker’s classic “But wait, there’s more!” strategy. Just days after announcing that it would purchase 100,000 Teslas by the end of 2022, Hertz now says it will make up to 50,000 of these available for Uber drivers to rent. Uber and Hertz… Read more »
Panasonic reveals its version of the new Tesla 4680 battery cell
Tesla showed off its new 4680 cell—a tabless battery cell with a new chemistry that promises to boost efficiency and reduce costs—at 2020’s Battery Day event. Since then, several of the automaker’s battery suppliers have reportedly been working on production versions of the 4680 cell. Now Panasonic has unveiled its version of the Tesla 4680… Read more »
Lithium hydroxide converter to be built near Tesla’s German Gigafactory
Rock Tech Lithium, a company with offices in Canada and Germany, is planning to build a production plant for battery-grade lithium hydroxide in Guben, Brandenburg. The company has acquired a 12-hectare site in the Guben South industrial park—which happens to be just a few miles away from Tesla’s new Berlin Gigafactory. Rock Tech intends to… Read more »