The Sept. 4 revelation that northern Nevada is the site for Tesla Motors' planned $5-billion lithium-ion-battery "gigafactory" sets the stage for what is likely to be a sharp drop in the cost of such batteries over the next few years, as market forces come to bear.
The electric vehicles built by the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla Motors Inc. are powered by batteries composed of thousands of the small, cylindrical, lithium-ion 18650 commodity cells such as those commonly found in computer laptops and cellular phones. They are lighter and cheaper to manufacture than standard cells and cost about $200 per kWh. The gigafactory is expected to cut Tesla's battery costs by 30%, the company says.