Panasonic and Tesla Sign Agreement for the Gigafactory

This just shows me that Tesla is able to execute. The Gigafactory, opening up patents, rapidly growing charger network, and the eventual $35k Gen III tells me they have tons of potential in the future.<p>Tesla is thinking big. They want everyone in the world to eventually have a electric car. I think they will own a significant share of premium market after they release the Gen III.<p>However, they will be cars that people will desire at a cheaper price point than the Gen III, from different manufacturers. Also some people love certain car brands regardless of anything else, and mostly will stick to those brands. It will be great that those other car brands will be able to more easily make electric vehicles.<p>Those electric cars from other manufacturers will most likely have a Tesla battery and charge on Tesla charging station. I think this is true disruption.

Why are most of the lithium cells cylindrical, while most of our devices are cuboid? (I think of phones, laptops, external battries... but phones and most laptops have flat lithium cells nowadays). Is cylindrical less expensive? Is it more secure? It seems like a waste of space to me.

This is very significant for Panasonic&#x27;s new direction. They now partner with a startup that takes on a IPR policy radically different from the Panasonic of the past. Panasonic&#x27;s R&amp;D engineers used to be measured internally by the amount of patents filed and the company had a large presence in every significant patent pool. In addition it means that one of Panasonic&#x27;s key manufacturing expertise will be located overseas, which is also a radical departure to the mindset of keeping core manufacturing as &#x27;black boxes&#x27; in Japan. However this may still apply to components that are integrated in the Gigafactory.

Has there been any analysis on the amount of joule energy pumped out of all of the current gas stations on a daily basis?<p>I&#x27;m worried the current electric grid is woefully insufficient for a world full of electric cars. I know their are plenty of electric lines out there running at greater than 100% of their rated capacity already.

I found some of the business arrangements interesting, though maybe not surprising. I think those are the real new details of this release.<p>First, they&#x27;ll be producing 50GwH of packs, but only 35GwH of cells; so they&#x27;ll still be dependent on external cell manufacturing for a sizable portion of the packs.<p>Second, that it sounds like Panasonic will basically own and run the cell part of the factory; as opposed to Tesla or a joint venture purchasing the equipment and making the cells themselves.

Again as with my previous response, I still dont get why the need for a Gigafactory. Battery Industry are an extremely automated, high volume market and with profit margin in single digit. Cutting those off aren&#x27;t going to automatically made electric cars affordable.<p>Unless Telsa and Panasonic has jointly developed an revolutionary battery that is going to need some funding and mass produced. But any new battery will need years in time for safety testing. And the news would properly have leaked by now.

So are they working on a new battery design?<p>The last time I did some research on the Tesla batteries it was just a ton of high-quality 18650s, is this still true?

I am curious about the choice of lithium-ion vs. something like lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry.<p>Obviously, there is a good reason for Tesla and Panasonic not to have chosen LFP, does anyone know why? I know the energy density is lower, but are there other reasons?

In terms of investing (buying Tesla stock), is Tesla&#x27;s probable-seeming big success with their next two cars already built in to the price? In other words, how overvalued is Tesla stock? Would it be worth making it a significant fraction of my portfolio?

Out of curiosity, with the recent release of their patents, is Tesla going to be enabling other car manufacturers to purchase these batteries? Standardising on a housing module across manufacturers seems a &#x27;good thing&#x27; for the general consumer.

I want to own an electric car so badly in my lifetime.<p>Really hope this makes that happen.<p>They sure are quiet though, I worry about pets and wildlife.<p><i>Gigafactory will employ about 6,500 people by 2020</i><p>Delivery truck drivers? I mean the factory is should be mostly automated by 2020.