The North American manufacturer Tesla, has based its leadership in the electric car sector worldwide, thanks to a development ‘at home’ of an entire ecosystem that goes from batteries, through the power plant, software, to even reaching their car seats (manufactured in their own plant).
Thanks to the Tesla ecosystem, its cars have been characterized by their good autonomy, something essential for a company that has been self-accountable to be the engine of change towards the new zero emissions mobility.
Taking into account the price / performance ratio, cars with the “T” on the hood occupy the leading group among zero-emission cars, which have greater autonomy between load and load.
Efficiency as a key weapon
The range of autonomy and the availability of the largest fast charging network in the world, provide a unique product whose key point is the overall efficiency of the car as a whole. This aspect has been the driving force behind Tesla’s philosophy when developing an electric car.
Precisely this race for maximum efficiency, which is now also the heart of the development of Lucid Motors, gives Tesla and Lucid an important competitive advantage over the rest of traditional manufacturers, specialized in internal combustion engines, which are now racing to recover the wasted time, in terms of engineering and development of zero-emission electric mobility.
In favor of LFP batteries
The commitment to the efficiency of motors, electronics and batteries is allowing Tesla to turn towards lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, without excessively compromising the performance that characterizes its products.
The latest move by the US manufacturer is to convert its stationary battery division to a chemical LFP, battery cells that have secured a supply of 45 GWh.
The strong demand for batteries generated by the increased production of all its divisions: energy, electric cars, electric trucks and zero-emission pick-ups (Model S, Model X, Model 3, Model Y, Tesla Semi and Cybertruck) also have much to do with this decision.
Compared to batteries NCA or NCM (nickel-cobalt-aluminum and nickel-cobalt-manganese, respectively), the LFP batteries are more economical due to their chemical composition. In this the cobalt, and all its associated problems and costs, is conspicuous by its absence.
Lithium ferrophosphate batteries also provide a longer life while providing faster charge cycles. But not everything is perfect with LFP technology, since if the energy density is analyzed, this chemistry is below the values of other lithium-ion batteries, which is why they are less used by many other manufacturers.
The key is greater efficiency
As stated by ARK Invest analyst Sawyer Merritt: “Tesla has an advantage over LFP chemistry because it has more efficient powertrains than the others. This allows the company to compromise what is acceptable in terms of autonomy, in the face of large cost savings.«.
Therefore, the efficiency achieved by Tesla’s motors, electronics and software, allows it to adopt cheaper batteries, without excessively damaging the performance or autonomy that have always characterized its 100% electric cars.
Tesla has shown with this movement that the negative effects of lithium iron phosphate batteries are minimized, thanks to the efficiency achieved in its electric cars, so that a lower density does not become a loss of range.
