A further disassembly of the battery cells in 7 electric cars has resulted in showing that Tesla still dominates electric car batteries, but is approaching.
The electric vehicle market is maturing and many automakers are beginning to settle for similar battery chemicals.
Several battery cell manufacturers are emerging as leaders, such as Panasonic, LG Chem, Samsung SDI and CATL.
However, car manufacturers contribute to the development of specific chemicals for their vehicles, resulting in car manufacturers often using different variants.
UBS decided to dismantle cells from Tesla and its suppliers, as well as those from Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota, BMW and more.
They concluded that Tesla still leads, but is getting closer (via Business Insider):
“While Tesla continues to lead with the best overall powertrain technology,” analysts wrote in an October note, “the cost of battery cells is lower now and will depend on its new proprietary cell design in the future.”
Tesla recently unveiled this new proprietary battery cell, the ‘4680’, which is much larger than the one currently used in the industry.
Larger cells have thermal problems, but Tesla worked around that by solving the cellless table design.
The Tesla 4680 will not arrive on vehicles until next year, starting with the Model Y produced at the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin.
UBS sees Volkswagen as second behind Tesla when it comes to battery cells:
“Tesla is likely to remain the benchmark for cost and technology for a few more years, and Volkswagen is the fastest follower on a global scale. Its € 33 billion investment in EV committed over a 5-year period is still unmatched. “
Volkswagen has battery cell supply agreements with several of the battery manufacturers mentioned earlier, but it has also gone deeper than most other battery manufacturers with investments and joint ventures with NorthVolt and QuantumScape.
Everyone is competing to reduce costs while improving battery cell performance.
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