Oliver Haslam on March 23, 2022, 11:04 pm

Elon Musk Says There Is ‘Potential’ In Manganese-Based Batteries For Tesla Vehicles

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been speaking to workers at the Gigafactory Berlin campus following the delivery of the first Model Y to be built there, and while much of it won’t raise any eyebrows there was one comment that could.

It appears that Tesla could potentially work on a new manganese-based battery for future cars.

The comment came when Musk was talking about the chemical composition of the batteries used in cars. Musk was asked about the use of graphene, something that requires a complex production process and has left many skeptical about its usefulness. However, Musk did go on to say that he thinks “there’s an interesting potential for manganese.”

As Electrek reports, Tesla has already looked into the use of manganese and Musk himself mentioned it back in 2020.

“It is relatively straightforward to do a cathode that’s two-third nickel and one-third manganese, which will allow us to make 50% more cell volume with the same amount of nickel.”

While manganese is already being used by Tesla, it isn’t a main component of any of its batteries — whether used in long or short-range vehicles. Musk’s latest comments suggest that it could change in the future, although the company “will focus on nickel-based chemistries for longer-range vehicles and iron-phosphate for shorter-range vehicles.” At least for now.