Meghana KandraSpringpower international established in 2010, has its website gone nearly blank as they sold their patents to Tesla.
Image credits- Electrive.com
Tesla plans to develop a high-quality, Long lasting and dependable battery for electric vehicles. Also, the battery cost while making an EV has always been a concern. Last year at the Tesla battery day event, Elon Musk assured that the battery costs will be cut by 50%.
Tesla battery cell
The news about Giga Berlin’s six-month delay to start production was out recently. It was due to their added manufacturing segment, battery cell manufacturing facility.
Elon Musk gave the Giga Berlin team six more months. However, there are doubts on whether the battery needs will be fulfilled. So far, Tesla has been utilizing its contacts with battery manufacturers. Furthermore, bought multiple small battery-making startups. But, it is said that Tesla is going to rely on Kato Road Facility in Northern California. And, the development and manufacturing of the new cheaper battery are to take place in this facility.
However, there is still uncertainty about the German battery facility. As Germany’s regulatory processes take long, it could mean more time than expected for battery cell manufacturing to start. Also, it is uncertain whether this will be linked with their production of vehicles.
Alliances as patents are being transferred
Additionally, the three patents Tesla’s acquired are,
- Process for recovering materials from spent Rechargeable Lithium batteries.
- Innovative process to produce cathode materials for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
- Method to produce cathode materials from spent rechargeable lithium batteries.
These battery acquisitions have been going on since last year. Furthermore, it is known that Tesla battery cells will not just be Tesla. It will include Panasonic and LG Chem production.
In February the reports on LG Chem building a pilot 4680 battery production quickly. With an aim to produce their own battery manufacturing lines they entered the project. Also Panasonic, though being an LG Chem rival is making a line production for Tesla.
Springpower shift to Tesla
The result from all the efforts is to achieve a battery that has 6 times more power and range than the existing battery capacity. Also, the price reduction has been included all along.
Yang Liu, a previous employee from Springpower, came to Tesla as a Senior Research Engineer. And Amrita Bhogan who worked as Chemical Technologist at Springpower came to Tesla as a cell engineering technician.
This transition is not new for Tesla. They acquired Hikaru systems (another Canadian battery marking company) to advance lithium-ion battery cells.