Tesla also shared some details about the battery’s chemistry, noting that lithium only accounts for about 1.5% of the weight of a complete battery pack. Tesla iron phosphate battery packs do not contain any cobalt or nickel. Tesla stated the following in its latest Impact Report:
“While relative cathode formulations and our overall demand for many battery metals and chemicals will continue to evolve, Tesla and the global battery supply chain will require significant amounts of lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, iron, phosphate, and many other metals for the foreseeable future. As we recognize the critical role that battery recycling will play, In providing a portion of these materials to enable a closed-loop supply chain, global cell production will continue to rely heavily on raw and mined materials to meet the growing demand in the short to medium term.
“The availability and affordability of these metals and chemicals is fundamental to advancing Tesla’s mission and accelerating the transition to sustainable energy. We will continue to collaborate with our upstream suppliers and producers to provide the vision to enable the scaling up of key battery metals. For cells with NCA and NCM cathodes, we continue to work toward Batteries contain higher levels of nickel in order to improve vehicle range while lowering overall battery costs, without compromising overall cell performance, such as battery safety and life, which is currently enabled by Cobalt.
“It is important to note that we expect our absolute demand for cobalt to increase over the coming years because the growth rate of our vehicle and cell production is expected to exceed the overall rate of cobalt reduction on a per cell basis.”
Image courtesy of Tesla
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