It's been in the works for over a year and now, after several delays, Tesla Battery Day is finally upon us (it's happening tomorrow, September 22). But how can you watch it and what should you expect from this much-hyped event?
Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting starts at 4.30pm EST tomorrow, September 22, at which shareholders are expected to re-elect the Tesla board’s chairwoman, Robyn Denholm. But it’s what will follow that has attracted the lion’s share of attention in the run up: Tesla Battery Day.
Tesla stocks have been surging ahead of the event, rising 19% between the market close on Friday, September 11 and Friday, September 18. At the time of writing, the Tesla stock price is $442.15 (£344.40) a share.
Related reading: BP partners with Tesla & further embraces battery technologies
Three things to expect from Tesla Battery Day
The coveted “million-mile battery”
There is speculation that Tesla will finally announce a battery capable of lasting as long as one million miles. Now that’s not a million miles in between charges, but rather a million-mile overall lifespan.
Such a development would be massive for Tesla given its vision of autonomous robotaxis in the future. Such vehicles would get a lot more use than personal cars, emphasising the importance of powertrain longevity.
Cobalt-free batteries
Cobalt-free batteries are another highly sought after innovation. That’s because cobalt is rare and expensive, which drives the cost of EV batteries up. Moreover, cobalt is controversial because of the political and humanitarian circumstances surrounding its mining.
Tesla already prides itself on the low amounts of cobalt used in its batteries, but Elon Musk revealed in 2018 that the firm’s next-gen batteries will use zero. Can we expect more on this tomorrow?
Price parity with petrol cars (or even a step closer)
Costs are a big deal for every EV maker. One of the main reasons why EVs cost more than traditional petrol-powered cars is because high-tech batteries inevitably cost more than fuel tanks. That’s why the holy grail in the electric vehicle industry has been to push the cost of battery packs below $100 per kilowatt-hour (the point, more or less, where an EV becomes as cheap to run as a petrol vehicle).
If Tesla announces tomorrow that it has achieved price parity with petrol cars or somewhere even close, the age of electric vehicles could be upon us sooner than expected.
How to watch Tesla Battery Day live
The Tesla annual shareholder meeting is due to begin at 4.30pm EST (that’s 8.30pm GMT). Tesla Battery Day is scheduled to start right after.
You can watch both the Tesla annual shareholder meeting and the Tesla Battery Day event via the livestream on the company’s website here.
*Header image courtesy of Pixabay
