“Musk doesn’t know how to make batteries”: the founder of CATL predicted the failure of the Tesla 4680 batteries

According to Zeng, he and Musk discussed this issue during the latter’s visit to China in April: “We discussed for a long time and I explained to him. He remained silent. “He doesn’t know how to make batteries.”

Tesla’s 4680 batteries are used in some of the company’s vehicles, including the Cybertruck. The energy intensity of this format is assumed to be 5 times greater. In September, Tesla announced that it had already produced 100 million of these batteries.

The Information previously reported that Musk had tasked the team developing the 4680 with fixing costs and other battery issues by the end of the year.

CATL batteries are used everywhere from Tesla cars in China to Ford electric cars in North America, including the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning. The company specializes in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are inferior to Tesla’s in terms of range.

While Zeng wasn’t impressed with Musk’s knowledge of battery manufacturing, he noted that the Tesla boss has a good knowledge of chips, software and hardware, as well as “mechanical things.”

In his opinion, Elon Musk’s problem is overly “promising” deadlines, which he talks about quite often. This is especially true for self-driving technology: “At some point it could be five years. But he says two years. I asked him why. “He said he wanted to put pressure on people.”

Last month, Elon Musk promised to launch fully autonomous versions of Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y starting next year, and launch the Cybercab two-seat robotaxi in 2026. Investors were skeptical about the forecast.

Robin Zeng did not specify what time frame he had in mind, but added: “He himself may think it takes five years, but if you believe when he says two years, you will be in big trouble.”