Glad somebody posted the Tesla blog link. The focus of this thread on Superchargers was puzzling. The core Tesla patents are about the modifications to the 18650 cells that simplify them removing thermal safety features and how the pack then manages them and eliminates the need for the cell features. Nobody else does it that way and so far it's the only proven way to achieve the sort of performance Tesla gets with model S. That approach also leads to the flat battery packs that lower center of gravity and are amenable to rapid swaps.
I'm curious if this is really an invitation to major competitors to go ahead and reverse engineer and build clones. If they did of course they would still be years behind and run into the same limits on batteries that Tesla is struggling with now.
It's another one of those surprising moves that will take awhile to really appreciate.
Does it also apply to other potential users of Tesla style batteries/packs? Rec vehicles? Lawnmowers?
The Tesla official future is one with hundreds of gigafactories all over the world. I suspect open sourcing the fundamental tech is a step toward making that more plausible. Despite the astonishing success of model S nobody is seriously working to emulate it. BMW i8 is more a Fisker done competently, it's a hybrid with a powerful IC engine and a small electric motor. It may prove fairly hard to get them to take up Tesla's offer until the model is a proven success with gen3 and the gigafactory working, but knowing that Tesla's approach is open source will change the discussion at competitors as that gets closer.
I'm curious if this is really an invitation to major competitors to go ahead and reverse engineer and build clones. If they did of course they would still be years behind and run into the same limits on batteries that Tesla is struggling with now.
It's another one of those surprising moves that will take awhile to really appreciate.
Does it also apply to other potential users of Tesla style batteries/packs? Rec vehicles? Lawnmowers?
The Tesla official future is one with hundreds of gigafactories all over the world. I suspect open sourcing the fundamental tech is a step toward making that more plausible. Despite the astonishing success of model S nobody is seriously working to emulate it. BMW i8 is more a Fisker done competently, it's a hybrid with a powerful IC engine and a small electric motor. It may prove fairly hard to get them to take up Tesla's offer until the model is a proven success with gen3 and the gigafactory working, but knowing that Tesla's approach is open source will change the discussion at competitors as that gets closer.