Elon Musk, executive director of Tesla, has again delayed the “Tesla Battery Day.” An expected event in which the American firm will present its progress in the field of batteries. Initially, the main novelty the company will present will be the new cells of its own development, which promise high durability and low cost.
The batteries of the «Roadrunner» project will be characterized by a useful life of 1.6 million kilometers, which in practice will mean that the pack will exceed the vehicle’s longevity. Also, it is estimated that thanks to the new chemicals developed by the company’s teams and solutions such as the removal of the modules, their cost will be less than $100 per kWh. On paper this should allow Tesla to equal the costs of their electric cars to those of thermal vehicles.
On the other hand, numerous rumors suggest that during the event, Tesla will announce the start of the mass manufacture of its own batteries in various locations around the world. Although production will initially take place in China in collaboration with CATL, Tesla is expected to later produce its own batteries completely independently at factories such as Giga Berlin. A factory where they will also manufacture cars and will have its own design and development center, as well as in “terafactories” several times larger than the current “gigafactories.”
Initially, the “Tesla Battery Day” was to take place in April. Due to the coronavirus crisis the event was delayed to the third week of May, changing the prime location (New York) to California or Texas. The date has been postponed again, as Musk believes given the current situation, attendance at the event would be meager.
On the other hand, the executive also plans to divide the event into two parts: an online broadcast that would take place in June and a live presentation a few months later (possibly in the third quarter of the year). However for the moment, neither Tesla nor Musk have given a specific date for an event that has raised a lot of expectations and is increasingly expected.