This was reported by The Information.
According to sources, the company has long been planning to create its own traction battery for electric cars in order to diversify production and reduce costs. However, test samples of 4680 type batteries do not satisfy Tesla executives due to low quality.
The material states that during testing, Tesla-manufactured batteries had problems with 70-80 percent of their cathodes. By comparison, for conventional electric car batteries this figure is less than 2 percent. In 2023, the corporation also planned to scale up battery production, but encountered difficulties.
Tesla management plans to start producing its own batteries by mid-2025. Thus, the company has plans to produce from 2 to 3 thousand Cybertruck pickups based on new batteries. By 2026, the corporation intends to develop and launch production of four types of batteries, two of which will be used in Cybertruck and robotaxi.
Tesla currently purchases most of its traction batteries from Panasonic Energy and LG Energy. In early October, Tesla removed its cheapest electric car from sale. The $39,000 version of the Model 3 Standard Range has disappeared from sale, and the $42.5 thousand model has become the new most affordable electric car.