Tesla is a car business and a battery business at the same time.
Tesla brought a new influence on battery business as it recently announced a release of energy storage system (ESS). Tesla’s core technology lies on battery and the reason why Tesla received so much attention was due to its creative battery method.
It chose ‘18650’ battery for its electric car’s battery, and 6000 18650 cylinder batteries are linked in a series and in a row in Tesla’s electric car ‘model S’.
Batteries’ capacities and temperatures are different due to batteries’ materials, but it boasts mileage function that enables cars to drive over 400 km due to power control technology that maintains cars’ safety and conformity.
Tesla was able to secure electric cars’ main weaknesses, mileage and safety issues, by its battery technology. In fact its intellectual property (IP) activities are focused on batteries.
According to IPnomics’s report ‘Tesla, is it a bubble?’ which is co-released by ETRC and Patentpia (CEO Kang Min Soo), about 70% of Tesla’s patents (more than 111 patents out of 160) are based on battery technologies.
It has 44 registered patents in overheating prevention field, which is a must in securing batteries’ safety, it also has unrivaled technologies qualitatively. In self citation area that shows R&D’s main field, Tesla focuses on developing battery technologies such as overheating prevention, charging, and etc.
Tesla also has many patent quotations that are based on battery, and it takes about 65% of the total quotations. It having many patent quotations that apply technology utilization means that its interest on relevant technology is high.
It chose ‘18750’ battery as its new ESS product. It was able to greatly lower its price compared to previous ESS battery by formulating modules that use battery cells.
If large-scaled ‘Gigafactory’ that produces cylinder lithium ion batteries is finished by 2020, batteries’ price becomes more than 30% lower than current price.
Because of Tesla’s creative battery technologies, cylindrical batteries once again receive much attention that almost phased out.
Staff Reporter Lim, Geetaek | geetaek@etnews.com