LFP batteries in made in china teslas

Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) are one way to continue to drop battery pack prices.

I found this interesting
MIC Tesla Model 3 With LFP Batteries Reveals In Tests What's Happening
It appears with the current CATL chemistry tesla is having trouble figuring out the state of charge.

I believe this a temporary problem that can be corrected probably with software, or at worst some extra hardware in the battery pack.

The bigger problem seems to be slower charging. We know some LFP chemistries can be charged rapidly and if faster charging is needed they may need to change things. Still if the owner is mainly charging at home a 250 mile LFP BEV probably can deal with limitations.

My american built model 3 now preconditions the pack if I am going to be supercharging, and allows max of 250 kw. These LFPs could be preconditioned and a 50 kwh pack probably is down to less than $6000. I think if you put it in a sub $30,000 bev people will put up with preconditioning and 75 kw charging with larger packs using the lighter faster charging chemistries.

 

The LFP battery packs are more sustainable and less expensive since they don't use cobalt or nickel. I charge mine to 90% but tesla recommends users charge the cars with the LFP packs to 100% normally. This chemistry appears to be longer lasting.

The SR+ mic model 3s go 10 km longer on the wltp test than the US made ones and weigh an extra 19 kg (42 lbs) the cars are designed for the bigger long range packs so physical size does not matter. I expect that the pack will be designed with slightly more energy so that the SR+ pack can get an epa 250 mile range in the model Y, but this could come from efficiency improvements as well.

Hopefully the beta test in china will give tesla enough information for a slight redesign and lower cost for these 250 mile + epa cars. For longer range the long range model 3 will continue on the improved NMC batteries with 353 miles of range, and model Y with 325 miles of range. Changing to LFP on the smaller pack will help differentiate more in terms of price and charging speed.