| Just to start, as of today Tesla is Panasonic's only automotive client. Panasonic talked recently about the need to get more auto clients for their cells but so far it's been just talk. As to your dismissive "galaxy brains at Tesla": unlike Ford or GM or Toyota, Tesla does a lot of R&D in battery cells. I know that because they are hiring tons of people for cell research and production: https://www.tesla.com/careers/search/?country=US&query=cell I did similar searches in the past so I know that they've been hiring for cell research for years. For contrast, despite GM claiming they make Ultium batteries, few months back I didn't find a single job post for cell engineering. I also know that because Tesla has been sponsoring Canadian cell research lab led by Jeff Dahn. This resulted in multiple patents awarded to Tesla. Tesla also bought Grohman Engineering (which makes, among other things, robots that assemble battery packs), Maxwell (for their dry electrode technology) and a Canadian manufacturer of equipment for making battery cells. Musk also talked how they work with every company that claims they have an improved cell technology and how they evaluate their cells. There is no evidence that Ford or GM or Toyota made similar investments in batter cell and battery pack R&D and production. |