Tesla's future in a lithium cobalt acid battery dilemma is worrying.

While Detroit went bankrupt last July with $17 billion in debt, the sound of a century-old "car city" languishing has yet to set in motion. Tesla, based in Silicon Valley, uses lithium cobalt acid batteries. The transformation of the electric car, which is warm and soft as a sheep, has attracted a lot of attention.

As the mechatronics technology matures, Silicon Valley, as a sacred place in the IT industry, appropriately shields Tesla from the aura of Internet thinking, minimalism, user-level positioning, and multi-terminal connectivity. Tesla CEO Allen Musk Not only is it a resource integration and marketing expert, but also an excellent practitioner. The advent of Tesla_Motors directly rescues electric cars from the low-end and toy impressions. The subsequent model Model-S is based on dynamic body lines and 3.9 seconds. Speeding up records for 100 kilometers, pushing Silicon Valley to the role of successor in Detroit.

It does provide an unprecedented experience for the electric car company, with Tesla changing the button design of gasoline cars and even other electric car brands to touch the screen, allowing users to feel like they are still sliding on the capacitive screen of Apple phones while driving. The strong sci-fi atmosphere adds a lot of leverage to Tesla's high-end positioning. Using the touch screen, the driver can complete the most basic navigation, listen to music, adjust the temperature, adjust the seat position, and even access the Internet.

But these intelligent operations are still relatively shallow for a car. Through Tesla's touch screen operation, the driver can more easily implement the switch of the skylight and Windows, monitor the mileage, and even operate the in-control screen on the steering wheel. But Tesla has done far less well than GM's OnStar in the tighter safety and incident management markets.

The remote control system that integrates wireless communication and globalspecial positioning technology can not only detect faults remotely and report repairs, but also realize automatic alarm after the accident through the sensor equipment of the car body. From this point of view, Onstar is more like the prototype of the car network described by the industry. It has a complete terminal collection, data conversion, data aggregation and feedback system.

In other words, smart cars are often just Tesla's use of Silicon Valley's custom-made marketing vests. It is Tesla's battery technology that feeds car owners behind the marketing.

Lithium cobalt acid battery nature is difficult to change

Tesla_Motors, which was introduced in 2008, used the 18650 small batteries of the NCA series (nickel-cobalt aluminum system) provided by Panasonic. When the single battery capacity was 3,100 mA, this battery was not unfamiliar. Laptops and mobile phone batteries were members of the family. It is recognized in the battery industry that the 18650 battery is not suitable for power batteries. This lithium cobalt acid battery has the disadvantages of high current discharge capability, poor safety performance and short cycle life.

Tesla's mathematical magic divided 7,000 lithium cobalt acid batteries into three levels of block, layer, and slice management. 69 18650 batteries were connected in parallel, 9 battery blocks were connected in one layer, and 11 layers were connected in series into the entire battery. Piece. If you want greater power output, the number of battery units is likely to be tens of thousands. Once there are high-power discharges such as emergency brakes, or low temperatures, impacts, and puncture conditions, these tens of thousands of batteries are like a time bomb.

It is worth mentioning that when Tesla's pure electric sports car was introduced, the more stable lithium iron phosphate battery technology was not yet mature, Tesla's choice was not much, and Tesla's sports car positioning was at that time. Determines that its users are not sensitive to cycle life and discharge capabilities. As for safety performance, Tesla has installed safety devices on nearly 7,000 battery units and each battery layer, once the high temperature or current of these batteries is detected. Large, Disconnect the output immediately.

However, the battery management does not seem to be reliable, as can be seen from the data that 439 cars were recalled in six spontaneous combustion accidents in nine months. In the previous spontaneous combustion accidents, Musk gave explanations for the puncture of the battery pack, and due to the early warning system of the car, all were saved from casualties. In February, the Tesla electric vehicle ignited in Canada. At that time, the owner did not perform any high-intensity operations on the car, but only drove the car back to the garage.

These safety incidents were resolved by Tesla's public relations channels, providing drivers with temporary homogenous safety and twice as much power as other electric vehicles, but left a question mark in the driver's mind. Can a battery management software really resolve the unstable chemical properties of lithium cobalt acid batteries? What's more, the current consumption of Tesla electric vehicles is still concentrated in the wealthy group. These people often have multiple vehicles for rotation. Tesla uses only limited scenarios. The market is far from universal. Despite its efficient battery life and powerful power, Tesla's hidden safety hazards will still worry passengers in the cockpit.

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