Musk Sets Tesla Battery Deadline After Setbacks
Elon Musk once said a new battery breakthrough was crucial to helping Tesla make more affordable cars. New Tesla deadlines for showing progress on the technology suggest Musk may be losing patience with the effort though.
In 2020, in front of a parking lot of raucous fans and investors honking their Teslas, Elon Musk laid out an intricate plan to make a $25,000 electric vehicle for the common person. The key: a transformative new battery boasting a slew of innovations, which he said could be ready in time for the vehicle’s release in 2023.
Tesla blew that deadline, in large part because it has had trouble perfecting the new battery. In February, Musk abruptly shelved the $25,000 car, announcing that Tesla would instead prioritize the development of autonomous robotaxis. And now the clock may also be ticking on Musk’s transformational battery.
In May, Musk told the team working on the 4680—the nickname for the cylindrical battery, which is 46 millimeters in diameter and 80 millimeters tall—to cut its cost and scale up one of its key innovations by the end of the year, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. And in recent months, Musk has told them he wants to see a solution to a thorny technical problem that can cause the batteries to collapse on themselves while in use, one of those people said.