HomePoliticsTESLA’S GIGA FACTORY IN RENO MAY ALREADY BE OUTDATED? Politics TESLA’S GIGA FACTORY IN RENO MAY ALREADY BE OUTDATED? November 16, 2017 This month a start-up battery technology company in Austria backed by Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a new lithium-ion battery that blows Tesla’s current system out of the water. The Independent reported Kreisel Electric “In the past two years, battery development has really taken off, and it’s now becoming incredibly dynamic,” co-founder Markus Kreisel said at a briefing in Munich. “We have a different way of going about developing the technology, and we don’t carry any baggage.” The startup has signed licensing deals that’ll see its battery technology enter production lines of a number of carmakers from 2020, Kreisel said. The Austrian company promises to squeeze some 65 percent extra range from standard lithium-ion batteries, thanks to patented laser-welding and thermal-cooling techniques. Kreisel’s battery promises a 500-mile range and a charge time of 1 minute. Kreisel’s plan is to license their technology to auto companies verses Tesla’s business model of mass producing batteries. Tesla is building batteries at its new Reno Giga Factory for their Model 3 car which has been struggling to get off the ground. Kreisel’s strategy could put Tesla out of business especially if Kreisel’s battery is adopted by major automakers like BMW and Mercedes who say they are watching very closely with great interest. The company is now moving into a new $20 million research center and battery assembly plant in Reinbach. Last month Tesla laid off around 700 workers at its car plants in California. Tesla has been bleeding cash at a record level only kept afloat by government welfare. Even though the new Model 3s electric car has over 500,000 orders, the factories were only able to eke out a mere 260 cars last month. Elon Musk promises to ramp up production to 20,000 cars per month. The model 3s depends highly on a $2,500 tax credit from the California State government, which is now pushing to unionize the factory jobs. . And now the Republican Congress has removed the electric car subsidies from the tax plan. Kreisel’s new battery is the first major challenge to Tesla’s viability and threatens it’s very survival. . Rob Lauer Political Reporter 360Daily.net
