Tesla Should Be Worried About Volvo
Tesla Should Be Worried About Volvo
But there is potentially a catch.
It’s easy to see why Tesla dominated the EV market. Their cars could charge faster and go further than anyone else. As such, choosing a rival EV made very little sense. But in recent years, competitors have caught up. You can now buy Kias and Hyundais that charge faster and go further for the same money. Well, it seems Volvo and their sister company, Polestar, are poised to leapfrog everyone. In a recent test, their latest Polestar 5 prototype was able to charge its 77 kWh battery from 10% to 80%, adding 217 miles of range, in just 10 minutes! That means this car charged nearly three times faster than any Tesla, and charging it takes the same amount of time as filling up a combustion car’s tank. So, not only has Polestar eclipsed Tesla, but it may have just made the combustion car utterly obsolete. Surely, this is enough to crush Tesla and crown Volvo/Polestar, the king of the EV world. However, there may be a catch.
Truth be told, it wasn’t really Volvo or Polestar that made this possible; it was StoreDot. They have been developing ultra-fast charging EV batteries for years now; it just so happens that Volvo is a major investor, and now part owner, in the company, granting them early access to their technology. The batteries in the Polestar 5 prototype were StoreDot’s XFC cells, which are designed to add 100 miles of range in just 5 minutes of charging while being able to be retrofitted to any EV platform with “no modifications to the vehicle’s architecture or peripheral systems” and still enable super-faster charging. The Polestar 5 wasn’t designed to use these cells, so fitting a 77 kWh XFC pack to the 5 and getting the promised charge speeds proves the XFC cells meet both these design criteria. During the test, the pack charged at a peak rate of 370 kW and had an average draw of 310 kW! For some comparison, a Model 3 LR has a peak charge rate of 250 kW and an average draw of only 124 kW.
But there is more to this battery than just speed.
It is also incredibly energy-dense at 330 Wh/kg. For some comparison, Tesla’s current 4680 cells are 26% less energy-dense at 244 Wh/kg. This will help vehicles with XFC-based packs be more efficient. The lighter weight reduces the energy needed to accelerate and increases range, and the reduced pack size allows EVs that use it to be more compact, reducing drag and further extending range. The XFC is also incredibly durable. StoreDot has bench-tested it, and after 600 charge cycles and max charge speeds, the equivalent of driving the Polestar 5 186,000 miles and rapid charging it every time, it showed zero signs of degradation. StoreDot has even partnered with EVE to start manufacturing these cells at scale. EVE is well known for producing affordable automotive grade batteries, so there is even a chance that the XFC won’t cost an arm and a leg.
So, how has StoreDot done this? Well, they use a silicon anode. Silicon anodes can hold more lithium-ions than their more common graphite counterparts, and it is far easier to pack them full of lithium-ions too. This leads to higher energy densities and faster charging. The only issue is that, unlike graphite, silicon expands when it absorbs lithium-ions, which can cause the battery to fail after a few charges. However, StoreDot has developed several patented ways to resolve this issue, including using composite silicon materials and novel electrolytes. These brilliant solutions use readily available materials and, in theory, shouldn’t push battery prices up too much. In fact, silicon anodes can, in theory, be cheaper than graphite ones, so there is even a chance these cells could be highly competitively priced when they hit the market later this year.
That’s right; these cells aren’t some experimental prototypes; they are production-ready!
So yeah, Tesla should be worried. Polestar and Volvo EVs are already close competitors, offering similar specs at the same price but with infinitely better build quality. The fact that they could realistically install these insane batteries in any of their EVs within the next year or two should terrify Musk. It doesn’t even matter if it adds a few thousand dollars to the asking price; people will pay for a car that can charge this fast! Particularly in Europe, where third-party 350 kW charging stations are quite plentiful.-
But there is a catch. Or, at least, there might be. It depends on your ethics.
StoreDot is an Israeli company. While the actions on October 7th by Hamas were horrifying and should be condemned to the nth degree, so too should Israel’s barbaric reaction in Gaza be condemned. At least, that is my opinion. However, the fact of the matter is that a large portion of the Western world is understandably boycotting Israeli companies. These people tend to be young and ethically aware, the exact same demographic which are buying up EVs in droves.
I’m not suggesting that you should boycott Volvo, Polestar or StoreDot here. Do your own research, and make up your own mind. But, the fact of the matter is that this link to Israel could make the optics and potential backlash of adopting these batteries too damaging for Volvo and Polestar.
That being said, Musk has openly agreed with white supremacists, pushed racist conspiracy theories and shared antisemitic conspiracy theories. Then, after backlash, he took a trip to Israel and backed their actions in Gaza, which are now being investigated as a possible genocide. Yet, Tesla sales weren’t severely affected (at least, until very recently). So, there is a good chance that the questionable ethics of using StoreDot batteries won’t get in the way of Volvo/Polestar challenging Tesla. Either way, Tesla should be worried about Volvo because it is poised to make their EVs look old-school.
Thanks for reading! Content like this doesn’t happen without your support. So, if you want to see more like this, don’t forget to Subscribe and follow me on BlueSky or X and help get the word out by hitting the share button below.
Sources: StoreDot, StoreDot, Will Lockett, New Atlas, Auto Express, EV Database, EV Database, StoreDot, Deccan Herald