Why A Gigafactory? Tesla Used 1/3 Of All Electric-Car Batteries Last Year
Found on Green Car Reports on Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Already electric cars are consuming huge amounts of lithium-ion cells--and if the sector grows as expected, a whole new industrial base for battery production may be required.
The average Model S ships with 77 to 78 kWh of batteries. Multiplying by the 22,477 vehicles the company sold worldwide last year, we find that the company's lithium-ion battery consumption amounted to about 1750 MWh--a bit more than one-third of the industry's battery usage.
Now imagine what will happen if electric cars get really common. Either scientists come up with a completely new way to store electricty, or manufacturers will have to deal with a really big supply problem.