Gotion, a major Chinese battery company will be mass producing the Astroinno L600 LMFP battery cell in 2024. It has 15% more energy density than this years ground breaking CATL M3P battery. In May, 2023, it was announced that the L600, which has passed all safety tests, has a weight energy density of 240Wh/kg, a volume energy density of 525Wh/L, a cycle life of 4000 times at room temperature, and a cycle life of 1800 times at high temperatures. The the volumetric cell to pack ratio has reached 76% after adopting the L600 cell, and the system energy density has reached 190Wh/kg, surpassing the pack energy density of current mass-produced NCM (nickel) cells.
The CATL M3P is reportedly being used in the Tesla Model 3 Highland. It can provide thousands of dollars of costs savings versus current nickel batteries.
CATL will improve the M3P to match the Gotion L600. Reviewing the capabilities of batteries in the lab and in development indicates a continued steady march of 10-20% cost and range improvements.
We have plotted out the specifications of the CATL M3P, the Gotion L600, current nickel, likely near term improved nickel batteries and possible improved batteries through 2030 and beyond.
Battery pack costs can be greatly reduced with the more energy dense batteries by targeting the same range or slightly less. The reduced pack weight then contributes to greater efficiency. This seems possible for the next generation Tesla car with a 40-45 kWh pack and 220-240 miles of range.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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Does this mean that the battery fires will be more spectacular or less?
LFP batteries are less likely to catch fire, and also generally safe.
Pardon me if I continue to doubt the Chinese until someone else can confirm/debunk their claims.
These aren’t nameless startups that go bankrupt years after taking government money, you’re talking about the biggest battery makers on the planet.
Anything with sub-300 mile range at this point, will lose sales. Effectively, 300 miles is really closer to 200 miles range, after subtracting the last 15%-20% range remaining that nervous EV drivers will leave instead of taking a chance on finding scarce charging stations with that little range left, and the last 15% charge left to “top off” the battery, which takes much longer and may even damage the expensive battery over time.
And not every home has or CAN have a home-based charging station. Most cannot afford that or cannot place one due to living in multifamily apartment buildings etc.
This is why Tesla should be very selective with stock buy-backs.
They need a pile of cash to buy/license new technologies plus reverse engineer technologies that come along.
As amazing as Tesla is, it’s impossible for one company to corner the market on new technologies.
Maybe just enough buybacks to counter the dilution from employee stock compensation
Totally agree. Companies should **BUY** stocks at market prices when giving them to employees for compensation, NOT just create new shares (diluting the value for the others who PURCHASED their shares).