On April 8, Tesla's new gigafactory in Austin, Texas, cut the ribbon today, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that the Texas Gigafactory will eventually become the world's largest battery factory.
Xiao Lei learned that the Texas Super Factory is mainly used to produce Model Y, Model 3 models, as well as Cyberruck, Roadster and Semi trucks that have been skipping tickets for many years, and the new factory has been put into operation, which can bring a huge increase to the production capacity of Tesla vehicles and alleviate the production pressure of the Shanghai Super Factory. At present, the first Model Y produced at the Texas factory has begun to be delivered.
A few days ago, Tesla also held a groundbreaking ceremony at its berlin factory in Germany, which means that the gigafactory, which has invested 5 billion euros, has also begun to enter the production stage, and it is said that the annual production capacity can exceed 500,000 vehicles. In this way, the production capacity problem that has plagued Tesla for many years can be solved.
However, tesla car production capacity is solved, but the supply of raw materials has become a new problem that slows down Tesla's delivery of new cars. For electric vehicles, the most important thing is undoubtedly the power battery, chip and other raw materials, in recent times, the production capacity of major car companies has dropped sharply, and the price of cars has risen sharply, all of which are inseparable from the shortage of chips and the rise in battery costs. In terms of chips, Tesla can meet the production needs by integrating multiple suppliers, and the more serious problem is actually the problem of lithium battery production capacity.
Affected by the soaring prices of raw materials such as lithium carbonate and nickel, the cost price of lithium batteries has risen sharply, and it has been in a state of short supply for a long time. There is a serious shortage of lithium batteries, and even if Tesla has a strong production capacity, I am afraid that it cannot change the fact that it is difficult to deliver the car. As the leader of electric vehicles, Tesla's solution is to build its own battery production line and seize the production cost and larger capacity of 4680 batteries.
The Texas plant is not only one of the main production sites for Tesla vehicles, but Musk may also intend to transform it into the world's largest battery production base. In this way, Tesla can solve the problem of lithium battery shortage on its own, without relying on external supply chains. On the other hand, the company can also try to develop batteries with new materials to break the dilemma of lithium batteries.
Then again, the self-produced 4680 battery has great significance for Tesla, solving the problem of battery shortage and high cost, Tesla's car price is also expected to fall, and the small partner does not have to watch the beloved Model Y and Model 3 continue to rise in price.