Elon Musk: 400 Wh/kg Battery Cells Likely In Just 3-4 Years

Tesla's boss Elon Musk in one of his latest tweets has hinted that high-energy dense battery cells (level of 400 Wh/kg) with "high cycle life" and "produced in volume", are not far away.

He expects those kinds of batteries on the market in 2023-2024: "Probably 3 to 4 years." Previously we heard about such a high level of energy density only on a lab-level or in ultra-low scale production for special application at a prohibitive cost and with serious issues of low cycle life/low power.

His tweet was a direct response to one of the followers, who asked about electric jet and relation to Amprius, a company engaged in silicon nanowire anodes, which moved its HQ right next to Tesla's 'Roadrunner' facility.

 

The 400 Wh/kg level would be 54% higher than roughly 260 Wh/kg that Tesla is using today.

EVs would not weigh that much then, even when having huge battery packs:

• 75 kWh battery at 400 Wh/kg: 188 kg of cells (compared to 288 kg now)
• 100 kWh battery at 400 Wh/kg: 250 kg of cells (compared to 384 kg now)
• 150 kWh battery at 400 Wh/kg: 375 kg of cells (compared to 577 kg now)
• 200 kWh battery at 400 Wh/kg: 500 kg of cells (compared to 770 kg now)

See also

We should know more about the perspective at the upcoming Battery Day, scheduled on September 22, 2020.

According to Tesla, only a limited number of stockholders will be able to attend the event because of COVID-19 related restrictions.

An interesting thing is the lead image at Tesla's website, which might suggest the electrode material structure under the microscope:

Tesla 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Battery Day

Separately, the currently used Tesla batteries - manufactured by Panasonic - are expected to gain 5% energy density later this year, and 20% within 5-years.

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