The world's largest battery manufacturer claims that Elon Musk's 4680 cell will "fail."
"He has no idea how to make a battery."
Robin Zeng, the founder of the world's largest electric vehicle battery company, has expressed doubts about the viability of Tesla's 4680 cylindrical cell technology, stating that CEO Elon Musk's approach "is going to fail and will never succeed." During Musk's visit to China in April, Zeng, who is also the chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), mentioned that they had an extensive debate on the topic, after which Musk fell silent, suggesting he lacks the necessary knowledge about battery production.
Tesla's tabless 4680 cells, which are used in some of its vehicles, including the Cybertruck, are designed to provide "five times" more energy capacity. In September, Tesla announced that it had produced 100 million of these cells. However, a recent report indicated that Musk had set a deadline for his team to finalize costs and resolve other issues before the end of the year.
On the other hand, CATL's batteries are used in a variety of vehicles, from Tesla's in China to Ford models in North America, such as the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning. This company specializes in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which typically provide a shorter range than various cylindrical cells used in many Tesla vehicles. Although Zeng did not show interest in Musk's knowledge of batteries, he did acknowledge Musk's expertise in areas such as chips, software, hardware, and "mechanical things."
Zeng also commented that one of Musk’s difficulties is his tendency to "over-promise" on timelines, something he does repeatedly, especially regarding full self-driving technology. "Maybe something needs five years, but he says two. I definitely asked him why. He replied that he wanted to push people."
