Tesla bought Maxwell, Tesla sold Maxwell. Cars will not have supercapacitors.
It looks like the end of the rumors about Tesla's ability to use supercapacitors. The California manufacturer sold Maxwell, which it acquired 2,5 years ago. The mask was clearly only interested in the technology owned by the company, including the mechanism for the production of dry electrodes.
Tesla will not place supercapacitors
Tesla bought Maxwell in early 2019. At the time, it appeared that the manufacturer was at least interested in the patented dry electrode technology, but there were rumors that supercapacitors could appear in Tesla in addition to lithium-ion batteries. Musk knew everything inside out, in the XNUMX's he planned to write his Ph.D. thesis on supercapacitors, including their use in electric vehicles (source).
The technology of manufacturing dry electrodes itself is interesting. In a conventional wet process, electrodes are applied to a metal foil in the form of a paste consisting of an electrode material and a solvent. The slime is rolled out and calcined to get rid of the solvent. In the dry process, the finished electrode is placed on a metal foil.
No solvent means lower manufacturing costs (chemicals) and, interestingly, higher quality electrode material, resulting in higher energy density and greater structural strength... This could mean slower degradation of a battery built around cells like this:
It is unclear if Tesla adopted this technology and applied it to, for example, producing 4680 cells. This is likely due to the characteristics of the process, although it should be added that during Battery Day what turned out to be a wet method of making electrodes blinked:
Tesla sold Maxwell and its surroundings, including supercapacitors and intellectual property. The buyer was UCAP Power, a company founded by Maxwell's previous owners. The amount of the deal was not disclosed, although there were voices that Maxwell's owners made a big deal with Tesla. In turn, Musk stressed that lithium-ion batteries now offer better capabilities than supercapacitors [in electric vehicles].
Opening photo: Illustrative Maxwell supercapacitors in a kit designed to replace a 12V car battery
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