It’s Elon Musk again. With every word you post on Twitter, the market sways like a pendulum. From bitcoin to space, the eccentric leader’s influence knows no bounds.
This time, Tesla’s CEO is shaking up the electric vehicle market by challenging the decades-old paradigm of lithium-ion batteries.
Last month, Tesla announced that it would use a cheaper and safer alternative called lithium iron phosphate or LFP batteries, in all of its standard-range cars.
Surprised by Tesla’s change, South Korea’s battery trio LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On, which only manufacture lithium-ion batteries, had to make a call about whether they should also produce LFP batteries.
It was only SK On that was called Tesla’s LFP bet. During its third-quarter conference call, SK On said it would mass-produce LFP batteries to target the low-end electric vehicle market.
However, experts are still unsure of following Tesla’s example, as LFP batteries, on a closer look, have critical weaknesses in price competitiveness and autonomy compared to Tesla batteries. lithium ions.
ESG risk
As its name suggests, LFP batteries use iron and phosphate as key materials. These two materials are cheap and plentiful, especially in China. This is why LFP batteries, produced mainly by Chinese players like CATL, are much cheaper than lithium-ion batteries, which contain expensive metals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese.
On the other hand, this means that LFP batteries are worth much less in their …
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