This was out in July 2016 Graphene battery Tesla: Could it happen?
Widely regarded as the “wonder material” of the 21st century, graphene has an impressive list of characteristics — it’s a better electricity conductor than copper, impermeable to gases, 200 times stronger than steel (but six times lighter) and almost completely transparent. Further, its properties can be altered when chemical components are added to its surface.
Those qualities give graphene seemingly endless applications (though most still aren’t commercially available). But could graphene really be used to make better lithium-ion batteries? And if so, is that something Tesla is pursuing? The short answer is “probably not,” but there’s more to the story than that.
Here’s a brief overview of what you should know about Tesla and graphene:
- 500-mile graphene battery: China’s Xinhua News Agency is largely responsible for rumors that Tesla may be making a graphene battery. Why? Because back in 2014 the news outlet published an articlestating that Tesla was working on a graphene battery that could nearly double the range of the Model S to 500 miles.
- Musk chimes in: Xinhua’s story was given credence because around the same time it came out Musk said that he thought it would be possible to create an electric vehicle with a range of 500 miles. “In fact we could do it quite soon, but it would increase the price,” he said. However, he didn’t specify that graphene would be used to create such a vehicle.
- Market watchers pile on: Together, the article and comment from Musk understandably created an uproar in the graphene community. Click here, here or here to get a sense of some of the commentary on the topic — notably, market watchers pointed out that while a graphene battery might be great for mileage, the cost of graphene could make it prohibitively expensive.
- Excitement subsides: With no new reports on Tesla’s graphene plans, excitement about the 500-mile battery has subsided.