Austin-area's Statesman openly Speculates Tesla will add "battery production" to new Tesla Facilities

An Austin, Texas newspaper, the Statesman, is openly speculating that Tesla will add "battery cell production" to a new Tesla plant already in process. They base their speculation on an unreferenced statement by the CEO Elon Musk and a filing from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. They are not the first to speculate on Tesla and we expect they will not be the last.

To be clear, based on what the Statesman quote, the facility will "produce the battery packs" for vehicles. This means they will do the final assembly of the "battery pack" just before they are installed into vehicles. They will NOT produce batteries at that location.

Here are the relevant paragraphs from that news paper

Without naming Austin specifically, Musk also said Tesla will expand and improve its battery technology and battery cell production.

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An air-quality permit application filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality indicates the facility would include capabilities for stamping, die casting, drive units assembly, cell manufacturing, battery pack assembly, general assembly and paint repair operations. It would also include support equipment such as boilers, emergency engines, a wastewater treatment plant and a cooling tower.

"The facility is proposing to operate a cell-manufacturing unit to produce the battery packs that are installed in the vehicle. The final product from this operation are the cells," the filing said.

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Tesla's Austin-area site could include battery production
https://www.statesman.com/business/20201021/teslarsquos-austin-area-site-could-include-battery-production
by Kara Carlson - Oct 21, 2020 at 6:05 PM

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Energy Storage & Sustainable Engineering with Lukas Swan and Jeff Dahn

Dr. Lukas Swan and Dr. Jeff Dahn (Dalhousie University) talk about their lifelong research in energy storage and the future of the industry. 

Jeff Dahn is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of the lithium-ion battery that is now used worldwide in laptop computers and cell-phones. Dahn's recent work has concentrated on increasing the energy density, improving the lifetime and lowering the cost of lithium ion batteries. 

Lukas Swan is the principal investigator at the Dalhousie University Renewable Energy Storage Laboratory with extensive experience and focused R&D on unique, elegant, and robust solutions to transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Swan's work encompasses variety of battery packs found in electric vehicles, freight trains, grid storage, remote islands, and more.

Dalhousie Renewable Energy Society is a student group that advocates for sustainability in engineering through hands-on experiences in renewable energy design projects and sustainability-focused events.

Elon Musk confirms Tesla's new structural battery and cells will start in Europe

 From an article from electrek.com

Elon Musk has confirmed Tesla's new structural battery design, and 4680 cells are first going to Model Y, which will be produced at Gigafactory Berlin next year.

We already had a good idea it was happening since Musk teased that Tesla will introduce a "core structural design change" with Model Y produced in Germany, but it’s not confirmed.

The CEO confirmed on Twitter that the new structural battery pack technology will be first implemented in Berlin:

Berlin will use 4680 cell with structural battery pack & front & rear single piece castings. Also, a new paint system.

Lot of new technology will happen in Berlin, which means significant production risk. Fremont & Shanghai will transition in ~2 years when new tech is proven.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1313854912212750346

Oct 7, 2020

Tesla plans to first start Model Y production at Gigafactory Berlin during the second half of 2021.

 

Elon Musk confirms Tesla's new structural battery and cells are first going to Model Y at Giga Berlin
https://electrek.co/2020/10/07/elon-musk-tesla-structural-battery-cells-model-y-giga-berlin/
7 Oct 2020

 

Gigafactory sequel? California lobbies Elon Musk for second Tesla battery megaplant

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2014/09/23/gigafactory-sequel-california-lobbies-elon-musk.html

"""
Tesla Motors Inc.'s home state of California already saw the electric
car company's initial, hysteria-inducing $5 billion Gigafactory
project go to a lower-cost competitor after Nevada's $1.25 billion
incentive offer.

But Golden State lawmakers aren't giving up on the lure of several
thousand high-tech manufacturing jobs that easily.
"""