A new breakdown of the battery cells in 7 electric cars has shown that Tesla still dominates the electric car batteries, but that it is getting closer.
The market for electric vehicles is maturing and many car manufacturers are starting to work with similar batteries.
Several battery manufacturers appear as leaders, such as Panasonic, LG Chem, Samsung SDI and CATL.
However, car manufacturers do contribute to the development of specific chemicals for their vehicles, which leads to car manufacturers often using different variants.
UBS has decided to dismantle cells from Tesla and its suppliers, as well as those for Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota, BMW, and more.
They concluded that Tesla still has the lead, but it is getting closer (via Business Insider):
“While Tesla continues to use the best general propulsion technology,” the analysts wrote in a October comment, “the cost lead in battery cells is currently low and will depend on its new own cell design in the future.”
Tesla recently unveiled this new battery cell, the ‘4680’, which is much larger than what is currently used in the industry.
Larger cells have thermal problems, but Tesla has solved this by solving the design of the tableless cell.
The Tesla 4680 will only start in vehicles next year, with the Model Y being manufactured at Tesla Gigafactory Berlin.
UBS considers Volkswagen the second of Tesla when it comes to battery cells:
“Tesla will probably remain the benchmark for cost and technology for several more years, and Volkswagen is the fastest follower on a global scale. The dedicated € 33 billion EV investments over a five-year period are still unmatched. ”
Volkswagen has deals with battery cells with several of the aforementioned battery manufacturers, but it has also gone deeper than most other car manufacturers in batteries with investments and joint ventures with NorthVolt and QuantumScape.
They all rush to reduce costs while improving the performance in their battery cells.
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