TESLA TO INTRODUCE ‘MILLION MILE’ ELECTRIC BATTERIES FOR ITS CARS

Tesla, Inc. plans to introduce a new low-cost, long-life battery in its Model 3 sedan in China later this year or early in 2021 that would bring down the cost of electric vehicles in line with gasoline models and allow EV batteries to have second and third lives in the electric power grid.

For months, Tesla’s chief Elon Musk has been teasing investors, and rivals, with promises to reveal significant advances in battery technology during a “Battery Day” in late May.

New, low-cost batteries designed to last for a million miles of use and enable electric Teslas to sell profitably for the same price or less than a gasoline vehicle are just part of Musk’s agenda, people familiar with the plans told Norihiko Shirouzu and Paul Lienert of Reuters for an exclusive. The new “million mile” battery at the center of Tesla’s strategy was jointly developed with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) and deploys technology developed by Tesla in collaboration with a team of academic battery experts recruited by Musk, three people familiar with the effort said.

With a global fleet of more than a million electric vehicles that are capable of connecting to and sharing power with the grid, Tesla’s goal is to achieve the status of a power company, competing with such traditional energy providers as Pacific Gas & Electric and Tokyo Electric Power, those sources added.