Germany’s Model Y

A new version of Tesla’s Model Y vehicle has been making European owners happy, as it boasts a much quicker charge time than previous versions. But Project Juniper - Tesla’s upcoming refresh of the Model Y design -  isn’t even close to being released yet… So what changed?

Well, Tesla is trying out a new lithium-Iron-phosphate battery type - a bladed configuration provided by Chinese automaker BYD. This company makes a popular line of electric vehicles, and has been competing with Tesla in the Chinese market.

The new battery was released back in 2020, and the Model Y variants equipped with it boast a range of 440 kilometers on a single charge, and a consumption of about 15.5 kiloWatt-hours per 100 kilometers. This is extremely close to the current CATL-made LFP cells which are widely used in Tesla vehicles right now - but the difference is in the efficiency.

The bladed design allows for more energy density - the individual blade-shaped cells fitting into an array which maximises space by as much as 50% more than a more conventional, cylindrical battery cell. And owners of the new Model Y have been reporting faster charge times.

Both batteries begin charging at about 172 kiloWatt-hours, but the CATL battery can’t maintain that rate for very long at all. Both battery types have a charge-rate falloff - which seems to be a safety feature to avoid building up too much heat during the charging process.

But the blade design lends itself to better heat management in the individual packs - meaning this design can sustain the high-speed charge rate for longer - reaching all the way up to 50% charge before the system gradually lowers the rate to help the packs cool off.

And even better, the bladed configuration also seems to lend BYD’s battery an incredible level of safety.

Every battery system on the market goes through a series of tests before they can be certified for use. One of the most stringent of those tests is the “nail penetration test” - which is exactly what it sounds like. The battery is punctured with a nail, and the results recorded.

The average lithium-ion battery reacts badly to being punctured - the materials being exposed to each other and the air in an uncontrolled way causes a runaway reaction - raising surface temperatures enough to cause explosions and fires. I’m sure we’ve all seen video of a Tesla or other electric vehicle that has been in a nasty crash - that sort of a blaze is why most battery packs are very well armoured.

But BYD’s bladed design barely noticed the damage - maintaining a stable 30-60℃ surface temperature. So not only are these batteries the safest LFP design in the world, but they’re increased density allows it to compete in a market dominated by more expensive cell types, like Tesla’s 4680.

The real driving force behind BYD’s success is their battery tech. They jumped on LFP systems and created cheaper vehicles than Tesla could - namely their Seal sedan, which has made them popular enough to compete with Tesla in China at least.

But despite the seeming rivalry, Tesla began talks with BYD back in 2021 - and by August 2022 it was reported that the Chinese automaker had begun shipping some of their bladed LFP batteries - not to GigaShanghai, but to Tesla’s gigafactory in Germany.

There’s been no communication as to why this pilot project isn’t being done in China - it would certainly be easier for BYD to ship their batteries the relatively short distance to GigaShanghai than it would be to ship them across the world to Brandenberg. It could be that the deal between the two companies forced Tesla to experiment outside of China because that’s BYD’s only market right now - but we just don’t know.

It is a very good deal for BYD though. Instead of making the financial leap to sell their cars in other markets already dominated by Tesla, they can simply sweep in and unseat CATL as Tesla’s primary LFP production partner - and in the process, advertise their cheap and safe battery tech to a much wider market.

But that doesn’t mean they’ll have an easy time pushing CATL out of Tesla’s production loop. The battery maker is hard at work on their own new configurations and technological leaps. Their M3P battery - which is currently in development - looks to achieve a cheap LFP-type cell that could boost the Model 3’s range to about 700 kilometers - almost doubling the range of BYD’s tech. We don’t know what’s in this new battery yet, but CATL thinks it will keep them on top of the industry.

Unfortunately the European test of these blade-equipped Model Y’s has to be put on hold - because even though the EU granted permission for Tesla to use BYD’s batteries in Europe back in July of 2022 - Tesla apparently hadn’t registered the new Model Y variant with local authorities in Germany, and has been forced to stop deliveries until they fix that.

Doing paperwork in the EU has to be hard - all those countries work together on the large scale, but locally require a bunch of different authorizations. But it’s a minor hiccup that will be dealt with before too long, and Tesla owners in Europe can get back to enjoying better charge times.