Tesla's Planned Gigafactory
 

Tesla is planning to build a GINORMOUS battery factory in either Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or Nevada.
-It will produce the same number of lithium batteries (GWh/yr) in 2020 as what it currently produced worldwide
-It will employ 6500 Americans
http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/def...igafactory.pdf

That is excellent news.

It also will be nearly 100% powered by renewables:

http://images.thecarconnection.com/l...00457895_l.jpg

Tesla's Lithium-Ion Battery Gigafactory: What You Need To Know

Yeah, AZ's gooberment is begging for it to be in Arid-zona.

AZ should have the solar advantage, as long as they don't thinks about Anti-business Tucson.

I hope Tesla keeps an upper hand with panasonic or who ever helps, finances, etc so it can really shake up the battery world and offer cheaper batteries for everyone.

Competition and mass production drive down cost. This is great news!

Its about time too, eversince lead acid came onto the scene Nickel Cadmium has gotten a bad wrap, its really not such a bad battery technology as long as all of them are recycled.

I'll just be glad to see lead acid put to rest as an obsolete technology.

Nickel Cadmium can be used for anything, starter battery, electric cars, even used them to power electric trams while moving from one power line to the next.

Popular Science - Google Books

Should be an even better future with Lithium overtaking everything :) Though they won't last as long as NiCD.

When built properly (electric power drills excluded) they can last a surprisingly long time:
http://powerelectronics.com/news/nic...after-28-years

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_IJmgKIlFE

They should use Nickel Iron batteries. Allmost impossible to kill. Toyota uses some kind of NiI they call Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) in their traction batteries in their Hybrids.
As the carry 10 yo warrenties, it seems they too are pretty tough.

Agreed!

Batteries shouldn't be short lived 2 year things, they should outlast the life of a car!

NiMH is a bit more difficult to manufacture than NiCD.

NiCD is like one of the simplest batteries you can ever make, you slap two plates together, add an insulator, and you're done.

The simpler the construction, the cheaper the cost to manufacture.
And the easier it is to manufacture, and the durability (structural stability) of a batteries raw materials plays a huge part too.

The main reason why car starter batteries don't last so long has a lot to do also with the plate size and thickness of the supporting crossmembers inside of the battery as well as the softness of Lead.

I don't think I have seen a vented lead acid battery die from excessive plate deterioration in more than 10 years, they're all usually sudden internal shorts or failures of the connecting crossmembers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyMPHp6yeFo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj9_Elf0OfE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRwEXaHTwsY

Got a little extra power plant in the Mojave that they could plug in...Ivanpah, CA.

BrightSource Ivanpah | Proven Leadership in Solar Energy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wVXg...flUA6yZQuypn8A

Broiled birds are extra.