Robin Zeng, the founding father of the world’s largest EV battery firm, says Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s massive wager on 4680 cylindrical cell know-how “goes to fail and by no means achieve success.” Zeng, the chairman of China’s Up to date Amperex Expertise (CATL), tells Reuters that when Musk visited China in April, “We had a really massive debate, and I confirmed him. He was silent. He doesn’t know find out how to make a battery.”
Tesla’s “tabless” 4680 cells, that are utilized in a few of its vehicles, together with the Cybertruck, are alleged to have “5 occasions” extra vitality capability, and the corporate introduced in September it had produced 100 million of them. A current report by The Data stated Musk had given the workforce engaged on the batteries an finish of the 12 months deadline to take care of prices and different issues.
CATL batteries, in the meantime, go inside all the pieces from Tesla automobiles in China to Ford EVs in North America just like the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning. The corporate makes a speciality of lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP), which typically don’t get as a lot vary as numerous cylindrical cell models utilized in many Tesla automobiles.
Whereas Zeng wasn’t impressed with Musk’s battery data, he thought he was good with chips, software program, {hardware}, and “mechanical issues.”
Zeng additionally commented that Musk’s downside is “overpromising” timelines, which he usually does habitually, particularly relating to Full Self-Driving know-how. “Perhaps one thing wants 5 years. However he says two years. I undoubtedly requested him why. He advised me he needed to push individuals.”
