As part of its ongoing expansion efforts following the great success of the Model 3 reveal, and as reported a year ago, Tesla has secured an exclusive contract with the noted battery researcher Jeff Dahn (of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia).
The new contract begins on June 8th, and will see Dahn working to increase the performance of the company’s (already cutting-edge) batteries. Dahn will reportedly be doing “whatever it takes” to improve performance.
Jeff Dahn was quoted by Quartz as saying that the research goals for his work with Tesla are pretty much the standard ones in the industry — high energy density, low cost, and a long working life. The “whatever it takes” mentioned above apparently originated in a conversation that Dahn had with Tesla’s battery division head Kurt Kelty.
“Those are the goals, and that’s how we’re going to do it,” Dahn commented. “We’re open to anything that makes sense.”
Dahn is certainly an interesting hire. Especially when considering that his most famous work to date has been with regard to a different battery chemistry (NMC) than the one that Tesla uses currently (NCA). Interesting announcements are now probably already in the offing…
As mentioned at the start of the article, Tesla’s been on something of a hiring spree lately — following the speeding up of Model 3 production plans, and some internal housecleaning. For information on those hires and departures, see:
Faraday Future Hires Tesla’s Former VP Of Government Relations & Deputy General Counsel
Images via Dalhousie University
It’s about time Tesla get with the program. P90D Ludicrous (400kW/90kWh=4.4C) lags far behind SparkEV (104/18.4=5.7C) and i3 (127/22=5.8C).
What’s even worse for Tesla is charging. S70 on 120 kW charger is only 1.7C at peak, but with steep taper, that drops close to 1C. Meanwhile, SparkEV would charge (48kW/18.4kWh=2.6C) to 80% without taper.
In the days of Leaf (82/24=3.4C discharging), it was fine (or not for charging slower than Leaf). But having less powerful battery than even $16K SparkEV is embarrassing. I hope they make good progress before I get Model 3.