Tesla's to unveil $35K Model in 2016; will go on sale in 2017

[Iormlund]

While in Madison I took a ride in a newer Prius.  MUCH better ride than the early model Priuii.  Didn't know it was a hybrid till I asked the driver.

The lack of noise and vibration didn't clue you in?

[derspiess]

I test drove a Toyota Highlander hybrid a few months ago.  Very pleasurable to drive in a city/suburban setting, but something bugged me a bit driving it on the highway.  Loved the interior.

[Admiral Yi]

The lack of noise and vibration didn't clue you in?

No.  Downtown Madison is on the hilly side, so the gas engine was engaged a lot.  And when coasting downhill it didn't sound noticeably different from a full gas car.

[garbon]

While in Madison I took a ride in a newer Prius.  MUCH better ride than the early model Priuii.  Didn't know it was a hybrid till I asked the driver.

The lack of noise and vibration didn't clue you in?

Just about every time my mother has gotten in my car, she's tried to chastise me for trying to move into drive without starting the car.

[jimmy olsen]

The roadster's going to be upgraded to have a 400 mile range, as cost comes down that will be doable for their sedans in 5-10 years

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/07/18/tesla-roadster/12809975/

[DGuller]

The roadster's going to be upgraded to have a 400 mile range, as cost comes down that will be doable for their sedans in 5-10 years

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/07/18/tesla-roadster/12809975/

Where are those fantastic range gains coming from?  I was under impression that battery technology was still struggling at improving more than incrementally.

[Zanza]

I would love to have a hybrid car. A specific one, namely the Porsche 918 Spyder. It can drive 25km on its battery alone. Or you just use the 600 hp gasoline engine.

[Norgy]

Tried quite a few hybrids and electric cars in my last job.

Favourites:
Tesla Roadster (insane car with way too much power for the roads around here)
Nissan Leaf (the saner option, and with all the trimmings of a good everyday use car)
VW Jetta hybrid (kicks like a mule when both engines go off. The electric enginge ensures momentum when passing someone on the highway)
VW eGolf. Just a very, very good car.

Not great:
Most electric cars. Small, cramped and with too small range. The best thing that can be said is that they all have momentum up to around 70 kmph.

The future most likely belongs to the electric cars, but outside of the Tesla range, a lot so far fall short of most carowners' needs in my opinion.

[jimmy olsen]

Great news for Tesla and everyone else in the field of electric cars.

http://scienceblog.com/73597/team-achieves-holy-grail-battery-design-stable-lithium-anode/

Team achieves 'holy grail' of battery design: A stable lithium anode

Engineers use carbon nanospheres to protect lithium from the reactive and expansive problems that have restricted its use as an anode

Engineers across the globe have been racing to design smaller, cheaper and more efficient rechargeable batteries to meet the power storage needs of everything from handheld gadgets to electric cars.

In a paper published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers at Stanford University report that they have taken a big step toward accomplishing what battery designers have been trying to do for decades – design a pure lithium anode.

All batteries have three basic components: an electrolyte to provide electrons, an anode to discharge those electrons, and a cathode to receive them.

Today, we say we have lithium batteries, but that is only partly true. What we have are lithium ion batteries. The lithium is in the electrolyte, but not in the anode. An anode of pure lithium would be a huge boost to battery efficiency.

"Of all the materials that one might use in an anode, lithium has the greatest potential. Some call it the Holy Grail," said Yi Cui, a professor of Material Science and Engineering and leader of the research team. "It is very lightweight and it has the highest energy density. You get more power per volume and weight, leading to lighter, smaller batteries with more power."

But engineers have long tried and failed to reach this Holy Grail.

"Lithium has major challenges that have made its use in anodes difficult. Many engineers had given up the search, but we found a way to protect the lithium from the problems that have plagued it for so long," said Guangyuan Zheng, a doctoral candidate in Cui's lab and first author of the paper.

In addition to Zheng, the research team includes Steven Chu, the former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Nobel Laureate who recently resumed his professorship at Stanford.

"In practical terms, if we can improve the capacity of batteries to, say, four times today's, that would be exciting. You might be able to have cell phone with double or triple the battery life or an electric car with a range of 300 miles that cost only $25,000—competitive with an internal combustion engine getting 40 mpg," Chu said.

The engineering challenge

In the paper, the authors explain how they are overcoming the problems posed by lithium.

Most lithium ion batteries, like those you might find in your smart phone or hybrid car, work similarly. The key components include an anode, the negative pole from which electrons flow out and into a power-hungry device, and the cathode, where the electrons re-enter the battery once they have traveled through the circuit. Separating them is an electrolyte, a solid or liquid loaded with positively charged lithium ions that travel between the anode and cathode.

During charging, the positively charged lithium ions in the electrolyte are attracted to the negatively charged anode and the lithium accumulates on the anode. Today, the anode in a lithium ion battery is actually made of graphite or silicon.

Engineers would like to use lithium for the anode, but so far they have been unable to do so. That's because the lithium ions expand as they gather on the anode during charging.

All anode materials, including graphite and silicon, expand somewhat during charging, but not like lithium. Researchers say that lithium's expansion during charging is "virtually infinite" relative to the other materials. Its expansion is also uneven, causing pits and cracks to form in the outer surface, like paint on the exterior of a balloon that is being inflated.

The resulting fissures on the surface of the anode allow the precious lithium ions to escape, forming hair-like or mossy growths, called dendrites. Dendrites, in turn, short circuit the battery and shorten its life.

Preventing this buildup is the first challenge of using lithium for the battery's anode.

The second engineering challenge is that a lithium anode is highly chemically reactive with the electrolyte. It uses up the electrolyte and reduces battery life.

An additional problem is that the anode and electrolyte produce heat when they come into contact. Lithium batteries, including those in use today, can overheat to the point of fire, or even explosion, and are, therefore, a serious safety concern. The recent battery fires in Tesla cars and on Boeing's Dreamliner are prominent examples of the challenges of lithium ion batteries.

Building the nanospheres

To solve these problems the Stanford researchers built a protective layer of interconnected carbon domes on top of their lithium anode. This layer is what the team has called nanospheres

The Stanford team's nanosphere layer resembles a honeycomb: it creates a flexible, uniform and non-reactive film that protects the unstable lithium from the drawbacks that have made it such a challenge. The carbon nanosphere wall is just 20 nanometers thick. It would take some 5,000 layers stacked one atop another to equal the width of single human hair.

"The ideal protective layer for a lithium metal anode needs to be chemically stable to protect against the chemical reactions with the electrolyte and mechanically strong to withstand the expansion of the lithium during charge," Cui said.

The Stanford nanosphere layer is just that. It is made of amorphous carbon, which is chemically stable, yet strong and flexible so as to move freely up and down with the lithium as it expands and contracts during the battery's normal charge-discharge cycle.

Ideal within reach

In technical terms, the nanospheres improve the coulombic efficiency of the battery—a ratio of the amount of lithium that can be extracted from the anode when the battery is in use compared to the amount put in during charging. A single round of this give-and-take process is called a cycle.

Generally, to be commercially viable, a battery must have a coulombic efficiency of 99.9 percent or more, ideally over as many cycles as possible. Previous anodes of unprotected lithium metal achieved approximately 96 percent efficiency, which dropped to less than 50 percent in just 100 cycles—not nearly good enough. The Stanford team's new lithium metal anode achieves 99 percent efficiency even at 150 cycles.
 
"The difference between 99 percent and 96 percent, in battery terms, is huge. So, while we're not quite to that 99.9 percent threshold, where we need to be, we're close and this is a significant improvement over any previous design," Cui said. "With some additional engineering and new electrolytes, we believe we can realize a practical and stable lithium metal anode that could power the next generation of rechargeable batteries."

Read more at http://scienceblog.com/73597/team-achieves-holy-grail-battery-design-stable-lithium-anode/#4vDyuaH7gGEtsc7p.99

[Zanza]

Great news for Tesla and everyone else in the field of electric cars.

It's actually bad news if university researchers publish such findings as it allows everybody else to convert this into an engineering solution. That would erode Tesla's technological leadership, which is their main advantage over the competition.

[Barrister]

Great news for Tesla and everyone else in the field of electric cars.

It's actually bad news if university researchers publish such findings as it allows everybody else to convert this into an engineering solution. That would erode Tesla's technological leadership, which is their main advantage over the competition.

Umm, Tesla made a big deal about giving away their technology for free...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2014/06/12/patent-medicine-tesla-makes-its-technology-available-to-everyone-for-free-in-bold-move-for-the-planet/

[Zanza]

Umm, Tesla made a big deal about giving away their technology for free...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2014/06/12/patent-medicine-tesla-makes-its-technology-available-to-everyone-for-free-in-bold-move-for-the-planet/

That was just a PR move. They had about 1,400 patents over the last 11 years, when Toyota had 1,491 patents in the US in 2012 alone...

[Barrister]

Umm, Tesla made a big deal about giving away their technology for free...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2014/06/12/patent-medicine-tesla-makes-its-technology-available-to-everyone-for-free-in-bold-move-for-the-planet/

That was just a PR move. They had about 1,400 patents over the last 11 years, when Toyota had 1,491 patents in the US in 2012 alone...

While clearly it was a PR move (given that it did in fact get them a bunch of positive coverage), I don't think you can say it was "just" a PR move.  Musk and Tesla appear to be quite sincere in wanting other car companies to use their technology.

[jimmy olsen]

Sounds like a good move.
http://www.wired.com/2015/04/tesla-isnt-car-company-battery-company/

Tesla Isn't an Automaker. It's a Battery Company

Tesla is admired for building the cars of the future. But it's not really a car company. It's a battery company that happens to make electric cars.

At least, that's the trajectory suggested by the news that Tesla will soon sell mega-batteries for homes and electric utility companies. CEO Elon Musk mentioned the possibility during an earnings call last February, and the plan was reportedly confirmed in an investor letter revealed yesterday. The official announcement is set to come next week.

Selling batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities may seem like a departure for a car company. But for Tesla, it makes perfect sense. An electric car is only as green as the electrical grid that powers it. And if Tesla's batteries become widespread, they could help utilities take better advantage of inconsistent renewable energy sources like wind and solar. As demand for renewables rises, whether through regulatory mandate or consumer desire, so would utilities' demand for batteries that could help maintain a consistent flow—a demand Tesla is well-positioned to meet.

Renewable power can come in fits and stops, depending on whether the wind is blowing and if the sun is shining, but the supply doesn't always come at the exact same time as demand. Improved batteries could help utility companies store power from renewable power to even-out the spikes and spikes and valleys those sources produce. And, of course, residential homes could store more solar power from their own solar panels to reduce their reliance on the over-taxed grid—a reduction that utilities would also welcome.

Tesla's move into the electrical utility market isn't exactly novel says Sam Jaffe, a former industry analyst at Navigant Research and founder of battery technology company Cygnus Energy Storage. There are already dozens of companies offering battery packs for utility companies. But he says Tesla's move is a validation of the market, and its scale will make it a major player.

"In 10 years the grid will be cleaner, less expensive to maintain, and more reliable," Jaffe says. "And that will be thanks to energy storage technology."

Excess Capacity

Tesla's first expected foray beyond cars also highlights that the company's battery manufacturing capacity may soon be its strongest asset. Last year Tesla announced its plans to build a 10-million-square-foot battery manufacturing plant christened the Gigafactory. That capacity could easily be put to use building batteries for not just cars and houses, but for electronics such as laptops and cell phones. And that could be just the beginning.

Tesla relies on Panasonic to manufacture its battery cells, which Tesla then assembles into custom battery packs and modules. "As the biggest buyer of batteries from Panasonic, Tesla will be able to command the best rates and offer the best prices," he says. "It makes sense to play in the utility market, where there will be huge growth in the coming years."

The goal of the Gigafactory is to make batteries so cheap that electric cars can compete with conventional gasoline powered cars on price. Although it's possible that Tesla won't be able to radically reduce the cost of batteries, energy storage technology will still play a vital role in the company's future. Americans are driving less, and the fleets of self-driving car services that companies like Google and Uber imagine probably won't help much. In a world with fewer cars, Tesla will need new lines of business, and selling batteries—maybe even to other car companies—might be just the ticket.

[Zanza]

Tesla already sells electric power trains to other car manufacturers, so the last sentence only describes the current situation.

It's also their expertise in battery systems, not just scale thar gives them a competitive advantage. If it was just scale, Panasonic would just as well sell to someone else.