The much-hyped and anticipated Tesla Battery Day is now done and dusted, but it brought some news on Tesla’s advancements in the battery tech department. It started with the Annual Shareholders Meeting and then moved on to the Battery Day event.
The event was witnessed by 240 shareholders, each sitting in a Model 3, while the rest of the world watched the live stream on the website. As expected, Tesla announced a cheaper battery, but it is still some time away. There were a few other announcements apart from this, and here’s a rundown of the event:
Tesla Has Introduced A New, Bigger, More Efficient Battery Cell
The name is derived from its dimensions – 46mm by 80mm. The cell is bigger than Tesla’s previous cells. All battery cell manufacturers face a problem when creating bigger cells, thus limiting their capacity, but Tesla countered it by creating the first tabless cylindrical cell design.
The automaker didn’t mention about the improvement in energy density, however, it did state that this results in a 14-percent cost reduction per kWh.
A Cheaper Tesla In Three Years
The big whoop surrounding the million-mile battery and its price per kWh was not particularly addressed. Instead, Elon Musk promised that cheaper batteries will eventually lead to a cheaper fully-autonomous Tesla car that may cost as low as $25,000, which is contrary to him saying a few years back that Tesla wouldn’t make a car costing less than $25,000. "In three years... we can do a $25,000 car that will be basically on par (with), maybe slightly better than, a comparable gasoline car," Musk said. The new, ‘budget’ price comes courtesy of the new battery cell manufacturing efforts. He didn’t reveal any details about the car, but you can expect it to draw inspiration from the China-specific electric hatch that Tesla is developing.
Model S Plaid Unveiled!
There is always a “one more thing” with Tesla, and this time, it was the Model S Plaid. Tesla took the opportunity to announce the Model S Plaid, which comes with some astonishing figures.
Prototypes were spotted testing earlier as well, but now the company has listed out the specs and it can be seen on Tesla’s website as well.
The Model S Plaid will be powered by a tri-motor setup, thus making it an all-wheel-drive vehicle. It is expected to have a 0-60 mph time of under two seconds, making it the quickest production car ever. Musk also said that the quarter-mile run will be covered in under nine seconds.
If all these claims are true, it essentially nullifies all the advantages the Lucid Air announced over the Tesla Model S recently. The Plaid will be quicker and more efficient than the Air. Tesla has priced the Model S Plaid at $139,990 before options, which also prices it on par with the Lucid Air Grand Touring Edition, which costs $990 less than the Model S Plaid.
Not A Good Day At Work
While all these announcements sound pretty exciting at the onset, they didn’t go down well with the investors and shareholders. $50 billion were wiped off Tesla’s market value post this announcement.
At the time of writing this article, the share price stood at $424.23. Cheaper batteries are still three years away, which is a long time, and everything else announced was also still some time away. That is one of the major reasons for a fall in stock prices. The same news in a media statement or a press release instead of a fancy event would’ve probably been a better option.