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Thursday, 24 September 2026
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Thursday, 24 September 2026
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Thursday, 24 September 2026
Sun FM Gossip
TESLA TO MAKE EV BATTERY CATHODS WITHOUT COBALT
Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Tesla will produce electric vehicle batteries that do not use cobalt cathodes; this was announced during its Battery Day event today. The announcement came as part of the company’s move to make batteries in-house instead of purchasing them. Musk didn’t give a timeline for going to a zero-cobalt battery.
Cobalt is the most expensive material used in batteries, so eliminating it from the mix was expected help to electric vehicles become as affordable as those that run on gas. Tesla now says it can make a $25,000 electric vehicle — $10,000 less than its cheapest model — because of the improvements, it’s made to its batteries, including axing cobalt.
Cobalt has also been called the “blood diamond of batteries.” That’s because it’s been mined in a way that’s endangered child workers and wrecked the environment in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A lawsuit filed against Tesla, Apple, Alphabet, Dell, and Microsoft in December by an international human rights group alleges that the companies make their products with cobalt mined by young children.
Tesla started working with Chinese battery company Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL) to develop batteries that use little-to-no cobalt, Reuters first reported in May.
Working with a different kind of battery will come with new challenges. The push to use less cobalt has driven up demand for another metal replacing it in batteries: nickel. Musk urged mining companies to dig up more nickel during a July earnings call and did so again during Battery Day.
Cobalt is the most expensive material used in batteries, so eliminating it from the mix was expected help to electric vehicles become as affordable as those that run on gas. Tesla now says it can make a $25,000 electric vehicle — $10,000 less than its cheapest model — because of the improvements, it’s made to its batteries, including axing cobalt.
Cobalt has also been called the “blood diamond of batteries.” That’s because it’s been mined in a way that’s endangered child workers and wrecked the environment in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A lawsuit filed against Tesla, Apple, Alphabet, Dell, and Microsoft in December by an international human rights group alleges that the companies make their products with cobalt mined by young children.
Tesla started working with Chinese battery company Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL) to develop batteries that use little-to-no cobalt, Reuters first reported in May.
Working with a different kind of battery will come with new challenges. The push to use less cobalt has driven up demand for another metal replacing it in batteries: nickel. Musk urged mining companies to dig up more nickel during a July earnings call and did so again during Battery Day.