Every technology hits roadblocks and the story of how we solve those problems is as interesting as the technology itself. For the most part, I’ll be focusing on battery technology. Energy is the the ability to do work, and the cheaper the energy, the more work we can do. With every new energy source, we change the face of humanity – wood, coal, oil.
From The Limiting Factor. Time for the Tesla Q3 Battery Report that summarizs the major news, developments, and the battery related comments from the earnings call. The theme for this quarter is that Tesla’s riding down the production cost curve for the 4680 ramp Channel Sponsor: https://www.rebellionaire.com/ My Tesla Referral Link: https://ts.la/jordan72005 (Use this if…
From The Limiting Factor. The million mile battery is an interesting case study in commercializing a new technology. Five years ago Tesla’s research partner, Jeff Dahn, showcased a battery that could last a million miles with off-the-shelf technology. However Tesla’s vehicles currently last about 3-400,000 miles. So what happened? Where is Jeff Dahn’s million mile…
From The Limiting Factor. Tesla devoted about 4 minutes to the unboxed process at Investor Day, so today I’m going to walk you through a closer look to show how grossly inefficient and awkward the traditional vehicle manufacturing process is, why the unboxed process is such an improvement, and provide more context on some of…
From The Limiting Factor. Tony Seba of RethinkX has projected that by 2030, it’ll be possible to move the existing grid to 100% solar, wind, and batteries. And, as a side benefit, that system would produce hundreds of Terawatt hours of low cost surplus power, or Super Power. In this video, I’ll do some analysis…
From The Limiting Factor. I’ve now received the test results back from the UC San Diego teardown of the Generation 2 4680 cell. Today we’ll look at the results and do some analysis. Use my referral link to purchase a Tesla product and get free credits you can redeem for awards like Supercharging miles, merchandise…
From The Limiting Factor. The 4680 now appears to be on par with the Panasonic 2170! That’s because the Gen 2 4680 or Cybercell has higher energy density than expected and because after some analysis of the EPA data, the 2170 make have lower energy density than was expected. Use my referral link to purchase…
From The Limiting Factor. Raw video from the teardown of Tesla’s Generation 2 4680, aka the ‘Cybercell’ with myself and Weikang Li and Weiliang Yao of UC San Diego. The specs and full results will come in a few weeks. Thanks to Shirley Meng for organizing the funding! Use my referral link to purchase a…
From The Limiting Factor. It looks like Tesla has finally solved the dry cathode coating process! So what happened over the past 4 years to delay it? I’ll cover that and more in my Tesla Q2 Battery report. Use my referral link to purchase a Tesla product and get free credits you can redeem for…
From The Limiting Factor. Tesla’s been setting the stage for the unboxed process for over a decade. In this video I’ll walk you through seven technologies that, in my view, will make the unboxed process work. Use my referral link to purchase a Tesla product and get free credits you can redeem for awards like…
From The Limiting Factor. In this video I’ll walk you through my estimate for how many megapack factories Tesla will need to build. In short, about 6 to 13 in the next 10 years, which may eventually double or triple Tesla’s market cap. This is Video #2 of the Grid Storage Series. Monetizing Energy Storage…
From The Limiting Factor. Time for a deep dive on Tesla’s EtherLoop, which is the final critical innovation needed for the unboxed manufacturing process. Tesla is moving from specialized hardware controllers to generalized and software defined controllers and linking them with Ethernet – and it’s over 10 years in the making. Use my referral link…
From The Limiting Factor. Elon has said patents are for the weak and that Tesla’s patents are open source, so why does Tesla still patent inventions and why does Tesla still sue companies over patent infringement. To explain this, I’ll walk you through patents 101 with a focus on Tesla, including Elon’s comments about patents…
From The Limiting Factor. Chinese automakers are gearing up to go global and inundate western markets with low cost EVs. Will they do the same in the U.S.? If so, how will Tesla and other U.S. automakers compete? And, flipping the question on its head, should companies like BYD be concerned about Tesla? Use my…
From The Limiting Factor. David Howey runs the Battery Intelligence Lab at the University of Oxford. In this interview we do a deep dive into battery charging curves, from determining the state of charge, to what the core problem is with charging, to trade-off decisions, and does lfp really like to be charged to 100%?…
From The Limiting Factor. My quarterly report on the Q1 earnings call from a battery perspective. This quarter there were again false reports on the 4680 ramp, so I’ll also cover why the death of the 4680 has been greatly exaggerated. Use my referral link to purchase a Tesla product and get free credits you…
From The Limiting Factor. Will Tesla’s Next Gen Compact Vehicle use stainless steel or paint? Or will it use plastic or a new coating technique? Today I’ll walk you through the options. Use my referral link to purchase a Tesla product and get free credits you can redeem for awards like Supercharging miles, merchandise and…
From The Limiting Factor. In this video I’ll do a deep dive in CATL’s M3P chemistry, which is an LMFP chemistry with some additional dopants. LMFP increases the energy density of LFP by 15-20% by adding some additional manganese. The question is, if that’s how simple it is, why didn’t this happen before? In short,…
From The Limiting Factor. Professor Shirley Meng, Chief Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, has been leading the charge on Sodium Ion Batteries. In this video we do a deep dive on several aspects of sodium ion batteries with a focus on the U.S., including the history, strengths and weaknesses, readiness level, supply chain, and the…