Friendly enemies or business partners who disagree? Maybe it’s a bit of both for EV battery manufacturer CATL and EV manufacturer Tesla. CATL founder and chairman Robin Zeng apparently told Tesla CEO Elon Musk that he is actually bad at making batteries. Musk’s answer: silence.
Musk has no rebuttal or the last word in any conversation (even in conversations with just himself) doesn’t sound like one Twilight zone episode. But that’s what Zeng says happened in an interview with Reuters. The topic was specifically about Tesla’s cylindrical battery known as the 4680.
According to GizmodoIn 2020, Musk boasted that the internally designed 4680 would be 10 to 20 percent cheaper to produce and increase capacity fivefold. Contrary to Musk’s countless unfulfilled promises (Tesla Roadster, anyone?), the 4680 battery does exist.
But instead of lowering Tesla prices, which Musk does on his own based on moon phases or whatever, the 4680 is currently used in the Cybertruck and some variants of the Model Y. Ah, so the cheaper battery is in Teslas most expensive vehicle. Say Alanis.
The 4680 “is going to fail and never be successful,” Zeng told Musk.
“We had a really big debate and I showed it to him,” Zeng said. “He was quiet. He doesn’t know how to make a battery. It’s about electrochemistry. He is good for the chips, the software, the hardware, the mechanical things.”
This comes from CATL, which produces low-cost lithium phosphate batteries for Tesla vehicles in the Chinese market. CATL also has a similar licensing agreement with Ford in the US for the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning.
Zeng added that he also questioned Musk about his incessant “over-promising” and unrealistic timelines for every product and project. Musk told Zeng that his goal was motivation (e.g. false hope) for Tesla employees, because anything longer than a two-year time frame was the equivalent of “infinity.”
“Maybe something takes five years, but he says two years,” Zeng said. I definitely asked him why. He told me he wanted to push people.”
So you might as well build your own Roadster if the production wait time is already beyond infinity.
As for the 4680, although it is in production, it is not without its faults. Gizmodo refers to a report by The information that says Musk has urged engineers to further reduce the cost of the battery as production is expected to increase. A dry-coated version of the battery cells is also in the works and planned for the Cybertruck next year.
However, Tesla loses 70 to 80 percent of the cathodes in test production. By comparison, conventional battery manufacturers lose less than 2 percent of components due to manufacturing defects. Another technical problem is that the batteries collapse on their own during use. So far, however, the 4680 has contributed to the number of Cybertruck recalls in 2024, which currently stands at six.
Nevertheless, Musk said four new versions of the 4680 will be available in 2026, one of which will power the Cybercab robotaxi.
“He probably thinks it will take five years, but if you believe him when he says two years, you are in big trouble,” Zeng said, without naming a specific vehicle or promise.