“A lot of exciting things will be revealed on September 22.
On his Twitter account, followed by nearly 39 million subscribers, Elon Musk cultivates suspense.
This Tuesday, the boss of Tesla (and the aerospace company SpaceX) is organizing his “Battery Day” (real name, “Powertrain and Battery Investor Day”).
The conjectures are rife but, in all likelihood, he should take this opportunity to present the next generation of batteries that will power his famous 100% electric cars.
And maybe even eventually, some of its competitors.
Apple has long had its keynotes, an unmissable high mass created by the late Steve Jobs.
Elon Musk dreams of doing the same in the automobile.
Initially, “Battery Day” was scheduled for mid-May.
Before being postponed to June, then September, coronavirus obliges.
In marketing ace, the "serial entrepreneur" has been multiplying for several days the enigmatic messages, promising in particular "one of the most exciting days in the history of Tesla".
A "million-mile battery"
This Tuesday, at 1:30 p.m., Palo Alto time (California), where the company's headquarters are located (10:30 p.m. in Paris), the world could thus discover the “million-mile battery”, capable as its name suggests of travel a million miles, or 1.6 million kilometers.
Also with an optimized lifespan, recharging time and autonomy.
"It is indeed likely that the announcements will concern the performance of a new battery," confirms Clément Le Roy, specialist in electric mobility within the firm Wavestone.
Tesla has notably shown a certain interest in the solutions developed by Amprius, its neighbor in Silicon Valley.
However, Amprius engineers are currently working on a battery capable of reaching 1,000 miles, or 1,600 km, of range in a single charge.
From there to imagine a partnership, even a rapprochement between Tesla and Amprius, there is only one turn of the wheel, which some observers of Silicon Valley have already accomplished.
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But the most important will probably lie in another characteristic: the cost.
As a reminder, 40% of the total cost of an electric car comes from that of its battery.
Reducing the expenses necessary for the manufacture of the latter could therefore be a game-changer for the electrification of vehicles.
And further accelerate their development, by bringing their selling prices closer to those of their thermal, gasoline or diesel competitors.
With a sizeable stake: by 2030, the world battery market should approach 45 billion dollars (38 billion euros).
Of which a quarter could concern Europe.
Replace cobalt with lithiated iron
No major technological breakthrough, however, for this new Tesla battery.
Like previous generations, it will run on lithium-ion.
But with a change in size: cobalt disappears from its composition.
Widely used today by industry, this metal is one of the most expensive in the world, for a most controversial extraction.
Two-thirds come from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where, according to several NGOs, tens of thousands of children are exploited.
The cobalt will thus be replaced by lithiated iron phosphate, available in larger quantities, at much lower costs.
To do so, Tesla signed a two-year contract last February with the Chinese Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world.
Enough to provide Tesla's third Gigafactory
(Editor's note: giga factory)
, installed since 2019 in the suburbs of Shanghai, with the supply of cells, alongside its South Korean competitor LG Chem.
But also lithiated iron phosphate, in which CATL has become the specialist.
The price of the Model 3 could drop by 10,000 euros
According to Chinese media, the "million-mile battery" would allow Tesla to lower its battery bill by nearly a quarter.
And therefore a fifth that of its cars.
Eventually, and all other things being equal, a Model 3 sold today in France from 49,600 euros (without aid), would thus see its price drop by 10,000 euros approximately.
To start below the symbolic bar of 40,000 euros.
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Playing on the anticipation of these announcements, Tesla's stock has already recovered most of the gigantic losses that occurred on September 9.
The title had indeed fallen in a single day by more than 21%, causing a hole of 156 billion dollars (133 billion euros) in the capitalization of the group.
