Next April, Tesla will celebrate the “Tesla Battery Day,” an event that will be broadcasted online and in which the company will show the world all the news that it has been developing in recent times in the field of batteries. But what can we expect from this event?
One of the novelties could be the so-called “Roadrunner project,” a secret development from which Tesla will produce cheap battery cells on a large scale. The target price for the “Roadrunner project” is $100 per kWh, a figure that would allow price parity between thermal and electric cars to be achieved (even without government subsidies).
Tesla has been working on the development of its batteries without the assistance of external suppliers such as Panasonic. Nor can we forget the progress made by researcher Jeff Dahn, who, along with his new Canadian team, has patented a dual-additive solid electrolyte technology for Tesla.
At the time, Elon Musk also promised that Tesla would soon launch batteries capable of reaching a useful life of 1.6 million kilometers. Does this mean that Tesla will present more intelligent, more durable, and cheaper super-batteries at the “Tesla Battery Day”? Not really: most likely, the firm will offer several alternative technologies, which will be used in different products.
The Fremont factory already houses a pilot production line for Tesla’s new self-developed cells. The company is already testing prototypes equipped with the batteries of the “Roadrunner project”, and its short-term goal is mass production. It also seems that Tesla has been secretly developing new battery manufacturing equipment for the past few months.
Along with the new cells, Tesla is also expected to present other improvements both in the modules (which will disappear) and in the packaging of the batteries (apparently the company is studying to bet on laser welding on the cells of its batteries). Some information indicates that during the “Tesla Battery Day,” the brand will present a Model S equipped with the new batteries.