I’ve talked before about how amazing Tesla’s current batteries are.

Now, from Bloomberg:

“The Chinese behemoth that makes electric-car batteries for Tesla Inc. and Volkswagen AG developed a power pack that lasts more than a million miles -- an industry landmark and a potential boon for automakers trying to sway drivers to their EV models.

“Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. is ready to produce a battery that lasts 16 years and 2 million kilometers (1.24 million miles), Chairman Zeng Yuqun said in an interview at company headquarters in Ningde, southeastern China. Warranties on batteries currently used in electric cars cover about 150,000 miles or eight years.”

The average American drives 13,476 miles a year. If these up-and-coming batteries lasted “forever”, that’s like 92 years of driving!

Other stuff must start to go wrong with the battery for them to say it lasts “only” 16 years.

Still…

Interesting that everyone says that one of the reasons Tesla’s share price is so high is their massive lead in battery tech. Yet here, it’s made to seem like this new battery tech is available to the highest bidder, such as Volkswagen.

Digging a little deeper, in a Reuters article from about a month ago:

“The new “million mile” battery at the center of Tesla’s strategy was jointly developed with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) (300750.SZ) and deploys technology developed by Tesla in collaboration with a team of academic battery experts recruited by Musk, three people familiar with the effort said.”

So it seems more likely that though Volkswagen may also work with this same Chinese company, it still doesn’t have access to the same battery tech as Tesla.

Given the extremely murky world of Cobalt mining, it’s also good to see that:

“Tesla’s new batteries will rely on innovations such as low-cobalt and cobalt-free battery chemistries.”

It’s also fascinating how car batteries that don’t have enough charge left for relaxed driving are starting to be repurposed as home electricity storage systems.

Very cool.

[Cover photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg]