This Week in Tesla: In-house Batteries, Model S Plaid Revealed

Tesla to make their own batteries -

This past Tuesday, Tesla’s long anticipated Battery Day was held, and while some have considered it a let down, there was revolutionary technology unveiled. Tesla’s new battery cell, the 4680 is bigger, more powerful, and has a greater capacity than the previous batteries. The cell itself will result in a 14% decrease in the price per kWh, but because Tesla is producing the cells themselves, it will likely be even cheaper than that. The new cells will allow for cheaper, faster, and longer range cars. Tesla’s new plan not only involves assembling the batteries, but actually mining the metals necessary for battery production themselves. Tesla has a lithium claim on 10,000 acres of land in Nevada which they claim will reduce the cost of their lithium by 33%. In addition to mining the lithium, Tesla is also pioneering a new way to extract lithium from the ore using sodium chloride. Tesla’s new batteries will also not use cobalt anymore, a metal that is highly controversial due to the human rights issues involved in mining it.

Tesla Model S Plaid Revealed -

In addition to the battery advancements, Tesla also has finally revealed the heavily anticipated Plaid Model S. The Plaid Model S will have three motors, produce over 1100 horsepower and do 0-60 in less than two seconds. The Plaid will also be very capable on the track and will have over 520 miles of range. The Plaid Model S is Tesla’s answer to the Lucid Air, a competitor that just posted far superior numbers to the Model S Performance, but the Plaid Model S blows the Lucid Air out of the water in all metrics. The Model S Plaid is currently available for preorder and deliveries are supposed to begin in 2021.

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