Battery costs need to be lowered, and one of the most effective ways of doing this is to increase the lifetime of every battery. It turns out that Tesla is planning to produce a low-cost, long-mileage battery to be placed in current Model 3, this according to Reuters.
This comes after a year of poking from Elon Musk. The battery is being developed together with Contemporary Amperex Technology, one of the largest battery makers in the world, and call it a hunch, but it's expected to reveal this new device at the upcoming "Battery Day" where Tesla will address investors.
Elon Musk has claimed that the battery "will blow your mind", and that it will lower the cost of kWh to a level which makes the production of electric cars on-par with the production cost of a conventional car, thus removing one of the biggest limitations of electric-powered cars: the price.
While Tesla is aiming for a 2020 release date on the new tech, early 2021 might be more realistic due to COVID-19. Other car companies such as General Motors are also working towards this goal, although GM is being a bit more conservative, stating that its new battery will take a few years before it's available, but also claiming that it will be able to significantly reduce the usage of cobalt. Meanwhile Tesla, according to the Reuters exclusive, managed to eliminate the usage of cobalt all together, one of the metals that causes the most pollution to mine.