Wall Street Journal test

[pgwoosley]

The Wall Street Journal has a test of the Tesla at:

Testing the Tesla Roadster Electric Sports Car - WSJ.com

 

[Axel]

From the link:

(As a precaution to industry snoops, Tesla refuses to name the battery supplier or let anyone photograph the unmarked crates they arrive in.)

Is this true? I assumed I just haven't dug deep enough yet, but does Tesla actually keep their Lithium Ion cell supplier secret?

 

[Tim]

From the link:



Is this true? I assumed I just haven't dug deep enough yet, but does Tesla actually keep their Lithium Ion cell supplier secret?

I think the consensus here is that the cells are Sanyo due to the cell construction, but as far as I know Tesla has never divulged either the manufacturer or the cell capacity. I'd imagine that the cell manufacturer probably doesn't want to assume liability in the event of catastrophic battery pack failure so that's why Tesla has never named them.