For months, the auto industry has been crying the blues, as a shortage of computer chips forced it to suspend production, in some cases for months, leading to empty dealer lots and skyrocketing prices. But one company seemed to sidestep the whole crisis—Tesla has been breaking records quarter after quarter, and sold nearly twice as… Read more »
Yes, the war between Tesla and the powerful auto dealers’ groups is still going on—the US is currently a patchwork in which some states allow Tesla to sell cars directly to consumers, some prohibit it, and some have reached some sort of compromise. (To be clear, one can buy a Tesla in any state by… Read more »
Chinese battery cell manufacturer Gotion High-Tech reports that it has agreed to supply 200 GWh of LFP battery cells to an unnamed “large US automaker” between 2023 and 2028. Initially, the cells will come from China, but the agreement also envisions establishing LFP battery cell production in the US. Gotion wrote in a filing on… Read more »
Australia-based Syrah Resources has signed a binding offtake agreement with Tesla to supply natural graphite Active Anode Material (AAM) from its vertically integrated AAM production facility in Vidalia, Louisiana. Tesla will buy the majority of the proposed initial expansion of AAM production capacity at Vidalia at a fixed price for an initial term of four… Read more »
In October, New York City announced a new investment of $75 million in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, as part of a plan to transition its entire vehicle fleet to EVs. The current phase of the plan includes purchasing 300 EVs to replace fossil fuel-powered models. Now Tesmanian reports that this will include hundreds of… Read more »
If there’s one thing that will make a greenie see red, it’s pulling up to a public charging stall only to find that it’s been ICEd out by a gas-burning vehicle (which always seems to be a giant truck or SUV with bellicose bumper stickers). In 2019, Tesla began testing anti-ICEing devices that pop up… Read more »
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 »
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 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 »
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 »