Tesla intends to further carry lithium iron phosphate batteries! Or it has nothing to do with safety, just for price reduction!

On February 25th, Elon Musk, CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, tweeted on his personal social media Twitter that Tesla would replace the ternary lithium batteries of some electric vehicles with lithium iron batteries. Musk said in a tweet, 'Nickel is our most worrying issue in the production of lithium batteries. This is why we have to replace the standard mileage version of electric cars with iron-lithium batteries. Iron-rich lithium batteries!' Tesla Has always been a firm supporter of ternary lithium batteries. Electric vehicles currently have two mainstream power batteries: ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries. Ternary lithium battery has low safety, high cost, slightly better low-temperature performance, high single energy density, but low group utilization, relatively high heavy metal pollution; lithium iron phosphate battery has extremely high safety and relatively high cost Low, low temperature performance is slightly poor, monomer energy density is low, but group utilization is extremely high, and heavy metal pollution is relatively low. Since its birth, Tesla has been a firm supporter of ternary lithium batteries. Tesla’s first model is equipped with a ternary lithium battery and has a pure electric range of only 320 kilometers. According to the battery and thermal management technology at the time, if the lithium iron phosphate battery is used, the battery life may be less than 150 kilometers in winter, so Tesla only Can choose ternary lithium battery. Increased demand has led to continuous increases in the price of nickel. Nickel is a key material for the production of ternary lithium power batteries. By increasing the proportion of nickel in the battery, the proportion of more expensive cobalt can be correspondingly reduced, and the energy density of ternary lithium batteries can be increased. Musk therefore called for the mining of more nickel mines to supply the rapid expansion of power batteries. He even said: 'If you mine nickel efficiently in an environmentally sensitive way, Tesla will give you a long-term Huge contract.” However, with the increasing nickel content of ternary batteries, the market demand for nickel continues to expand. Alan Ray Restaro, a metals analyst, once said that the supply of nickel will continue to be tight in the next three years, and there may be a severe shortage of nickel as early as 2023. It is reported that commodity prices have risen across the board this year, and the price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange has risen by 16%. Tesla is under tremendous cost pressure. During the period of seeking financing, Tesla once listed its profit model on the official website: first produce sports cars, then use the money earned to produce slightly cheaper cars, and then use the money earned. To produce cheaper cars... Musk’s vision is perfect. However, a Tesla electric car consumes about 30 kilograms of nickel. With the explosive growth of global electric vehicles, the price of nickel continues to rise. The continued price cuts of Sla electric vehicles have brought huge cost pressures. Tesla reluctantly began to turn to lithium iron phosphate batteries. With the vigorous development of electric vehicles, the thermal management technology of power batteries has become more and more advanced. The lithium iron phosphate batteries, which have poor performance at low temperatures, benefit the most. At the same time, major battery companies have further tapped the potential of lithium iron phosphate batteries through structural optimization. Great improvements have been made in mass energy density, volumetric energy density, and battery pack utilization. The current most popular BYD Han EV is For example, it has been possible to achieve a pure electric battery life of about 600 kilometers, which is basically not weaker than the best ternary lithium battery in terms of endurance, and it is even more likely to be crushed in terms of safety. In order to seek replacement of cobalt and nickel, in October 2020, Tesla tried to launch the first MODEL3 model equipped with a lithium iron phosphate battery, and it was selling well in China. Musk deeply feels that the replacement of lithium iron phosphate batteries can reduce the cost and price of electric vehicles and drive sales growth, before preparing to further expand the application of lithium iron phosphate batteries. Tesla is equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries or has nothing to do with safety. In recent years, with the popularity of ternary lithium batteries, there have been frequent spontaneous combustion of electric vehicle batteries, and it is always three burning and five burning. Tesla is no exception. Electric vehicles Spontaneous combustion occurs frequently. Perhaps it is the cultural differences between China and the West. Tesla has never paid attention to the safety issues brought by high-nickel ternary lithium batteries. Even if it promotes lithium iron phosphate batteries, it is only from a cost perspective, hoping to reduce prices quickly through cost reductions. Quickly enter the low-priced car market firmly controlled by Volkswagen and Toyota. Written at the end: Safety is no small matter. In 2015, due to multiple spontaneous fires of passenger car batteries equipped with ternary lithium batteries, which posed a threat to people’s lives, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology suspended ternary lithium battery buses from being included in the promotion and application of new energy vehicles. Recommended model catalog. According to the 'New Energy Vehicle National Supervision Platform Big Data Safety Supervision Achievement Report' released by the National Big Data Alliance of New Energy Vehicles on August 19, 2019, from May to August 2019, the new energy vehicle country will A total of 79 safety accidents were found on the supervision platform, of which more than 40 were fire accidents. The only two cases of fires in lithium iron phosphate battery models were not related to the battery. The safety of electric vehicles is more important than Mount Tai. In recent years, there have been continuous outbreaks of Tesla car battery fires at home and abroad, which have not attracted the attention of manufacturers. On the contrary, because of cost and price issues, Musk began to replace lithium iron phosphate batteries. Underestimating safety, it is no wonder that the five ministries and committees jointly interviewed Tesla for safety and service issues.