Tesla's business model depends on continuous improvements in the cost and energy density of batteries. When Tesla was founded in 2003, it was barely possible to build a battery-powered sports car with a six-figure price tag. Over the next 15 years, cheaper and more powerful batteries enabled Tesla to build roomier cars with longer ranges at lower prices. Tesla expects that progress to continue—and maybe even accelerate—in the next few years. And it isn't waiting for other companies to come up with better battery designs. In recent years, Tesla has had a large team of engineers re-thinking every aspect of Tesla's batteries, from the chemistry inside the cells to the way the batteries are inco
Robots are not efficient enough for Tesla's new car factory in Germany, which plans to replace hundreds of them with giant aluminium casting machines to build simpler chassis parts, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The electric carmaker has struggled to raise production volumes through hi-tech automation and was forced to fly in a new production line from Germany to Nevada in 2018 after robots failed to coordinate seamlessly at the U.S. factory. For the new Model Y, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has said he will replace 70 components glued and riveted into the car's rear underbody with a single module made using an aluminium casting machine. That's just the start of a new au
