Tesla battery researcher unveils new cell that could last 1 million miles in 'robot taxis' - Electrek

Tesla's battery research partner has released a new paper on a battery cell that could last over 1 million miles, which they say is going to be particularly useful in'robot taxis' -- something that Tesla wants to bring to market. When talking about the economics of Tesla's future fleet of robotaxis at the Tesla Autonomy Event, Tesla CEO Elon Musk emphasized that the vehicles need to be durable in order for the economics to work: The cars currently built are all designed for a million miles of operation. The drive unit is design, tested, and validated for 1 million miles of operation. But the CEO admitted that the battery packs are not built to last 1 million miles. Earlier this year, Musk said that they built Model 3 to last as long as a commercial truck, a million miles, and the battery modules should last between 300,000 miles and 500,000 miles.