Tesla Motors, the largest user of lithium-ion batteries in the world, has hired one of the foremost experts in battery research in order to lower its production costs through innovation.
According to Fortune magazine, Tesla struck a five-year exclusive partnership this week with Jeff Dahn, researcher and professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. His work for Tesla will begin in June 2016, after he completes a project for 3M.
Dahn's focus will be twofold: Increase the energy density of Tesla's batteries, as well as the lifetime endurance of the lithium-ion cells.
The first task is simple, and can be achieved by charging the battery to a higher voltage.
"The problem is when you do that [charge it to a higher voltage] the lifetime is compromised," said Dahn. "So it’s always a tradeoff between lifetime and energy density."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla's 85-kilowatt-hour Model S sedan uses batteries that cost anywhere from $20,000 and $25,000 to produce. JB Straubel, the company's chief technologist, said that battery costs need to be slashed by half if Tesla is to meet its target of selling its one millionth vehicle by 2020.
Dahn's work will likely help see that goal come to fruition, as will the $5 billion gigafactory battery factory Tesla is building in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center. That factory is projected to reduce the per-kilowatt-hour cost of its lithium-ion battery packs by more than 30 percent come 2017.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.