So, Tesla thinks it can cut the cost of lithium-ion batteries for its electric cars in half and make the cars affordable?
That’s why it plans to build a battery plant in Nevada and why Nevada offered $1.3 billion in tax give-aways.
According to Forbes, the Tesla hopes to cut the cost from $500 per kWh to $250, but a company has announced that it plans to produce batteries that cost $100 per kWh.
This the crux of the piece:
Musk is betting big on traditional lithium-ion technology. And he may be right. One risk, however, is that some other technology may achieve through engineering what he’s trying to do through sheer volume. And that’s where Sakti3 comes in with its new solid-state battery. Tesla’s batteries, which are made by Panasonic, currently cost around $500 a kilowatt-hour. Vishal Sapru, the energy and power systems research manager at research firm Frost & Sullivan, believes that Tesla at best can get that down to $250 by the end of the decade. Sakti3 claims that its batteries will reach $100 a kWh.
Nevada knows boom or bust. Will that $100 million road lead to a ghost town?
4TH ST8 
It’s not about the future of this particulat energy push, it’s about the present for Harry Reid, by the time this battery plant falls he will be on to another green energy pipedream. If he had a hand in the building of Hoover Dam it would have been built with sticks, beaver-like, for the quick buck boost instead of for a long-lasting benefit.
I don’t see the battery plant failing, Vernon.
Unlike Nissan, this plant will make batteries for a whole range of products and devices. Not just one make and model of small, weak compact car.
In fact I bet Nissan will be buying batteries made in northern Nevada some time the next 10 years.
See Glenn Cook column.
I read it. And he too, misses the point about a customer base.
Nissan also made crappy batteries.
Sakti3 sounds like potentially good news for Michigan. The Fortune piece says the company is backed by GM. Does this mean American taxpayers?
This is at the experimental stage. Sakti3 has a very long way to go. It generally takes a decade or so for new tech like this to come to market. AND the battery factory will be doing it’s own research and development in the interim.
Be conservative and remember competition is a GOOD thing.
I believe it is Musk’s intention to be the battery supplier of choice for the automotive industry. If his process is good and can keep the costs down he may be successful in which case a lot of folks in Reno will stay employed. If he can make computer batteries and the like, why not, all about costs and engineering
Taxpayers should never have to (involuntarily) vote for one company v. another. Even in the best case scenarios, it’s still a precedent that only invites fascism, corruption and eventual failure.
Problem with ‘voting’ in people to represent us is becoming more difficult: Absurd! Nevada Voting Machine Auto-Selecting Obama – this was 2012, how much better have they gotten at it since!
http://minutemennews.com/2012/10/absurd-nevada-voting-machine-auto-selecting-obama/
A few are getting their pockets patted.
[…] hopes its gigafactory will be able to cut the price of batteries for its cars from $500 per kWh to $250. The company’s Model S is equipped with an 85 kWh […]