Tesla recently announced plans to onshore Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery production to the United States, and those plans are starting to come together in light of a new patent on LFP chemistries. The newly published patent, WO2024/229047 A1, reveals that Tesla, along with a team including renowned battery researcher Jeff Dahn from Dalhousie University (who has made significant contributions to advancing lithium-ion battery technology, including LFP for Tesla), is developing an improved LFP-based cathode material. This “boosted” LFP will likely be the foundation for future US-made Tesla vehicles.
LFP batteries are already a part of Tesla’s strategy for its Standard Range vehicles and energy storage products. They are prized for their lower cost (by avoiding expensive nickel and cobalt), long cycle life, and ability to charge to 100% without damaging the battery. By bringing LFP production to the US, Tesla could tap into domestic incentives and avoid potential tariffs. This new patent suggests that Tesla isn’t just planning on bringing LFP production to the U.S., but that it’s also looking to improve it.
LFP with a Pinch of Nickel
The core of the patent describes a “blended cathode active material.” This involves taking a standard iron phosphate-based material, like LiFePO4 or LFP, and potentially Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate, LMFP, which forms the vast majority of the cathode - about 90-99% by weight. Then, adding in a small, carefully controlled amount of nickel oxide-based active material, such as NMC or NCA, typically between 0.1-15% or as lean as 0.1-3% by weight.
The approach isn’t just a simple mix; the patent details crucial pre-processing steps for the nickel-based component. This includes surface area processing like milling to increase its surface area and heating it to temperatures between 650°C and 800°C. These steps are designed to reduce lithium-containing impurities (like LiOH and Li2CO3) in the nickel material, which can be detrimental to battery performance.
Why Blended?
The goal of this LFP-Nickel blend is to increase LFP battery performance. In particular, the patent is targeting improved capacity retention and increased lifetime cycles. The extensive data presented in the patent shows that cells made with this blended cathode exhibit several key advantages over standard LFP cells.
Improved Capacity Retention: The blended cathodes demonstrated a better ability to hold charge over many cycles with tests showing blended cells retaining over 90% capacity after 7,000 hours of cycling at 40°C in some configurations.
Improved Cycle Lifetime: The batteries could endure more charge and discharge cycles while maintaining output voltage, which is key for vehicle lifespans.
Better High-Temperature Performance: Testing at higher temperatures, including up to 70°C showed superior stability and capacity retention.
Reduced Degradation: A fascinating finding highlighted in the patent is that the blend appears to reduce the dissolution of iron from the LFP material, which can then deposit on the anode and hinder long-term performance. The blended cells showed less iron deposition on the anode after extensive cycling.
Lower Internal Resistance Growth: Finally, these new cathodes showed more stable internal resistance over time compared to pure LFP cells, especially at higher temperatures.
By incorporating just a small fraction of the higher-energy nickel material, Tesla hopes to improve LFP battery longevity and improve charge rates without increasing the cost of these batteries, which is one of their most appealing qualities.
Impact on Charging Performance
The patent doesn't explicitly focus on achieving dramatically faster charging speeds as its primary outcome, with most cycling tests conducted at moderate C-rates like C/3*. However, the findings offer strong indicators that charging performance would also be improved.
While the patent doesn't claim a new "fast charge" LFP chemistry outright, the inherent improvements in material stability and resistance characteristics suggest that these blended LFP cells could offer more robust and reliable charging performance.
* C-rates are a measure of how quickly a battery can charge. 1C means the battery can be fully charged in an hour, while C/3 means 33% per hour.
Domestic LFP
This patented technology could be the key to Tesla's US LFP production. It offers a pathway to manufacturing LFP cells that are not only domestically sourced but also offer a tangible performance improvement over conventional LFP chemistries. This could give Tesla a competitive edge, allowing them to offer LFP-powered vehicles and energy products with better longevity, durability, and potentially even slightly better performance characteristics in demanding conditions.
This is especially important today, as Tesla no longer sells vehicles with LFP batteries in the United States and North America due to tariffs. The only LFP battery items they sell within North America are Megapack and Powerwall, which are both excluded from tariffs (and incentives) due to their nature as stationary energy products.
As Tesla continues to innovate across the battery spectrum, from raw materials processing to cell design and manufacturing, innovations like this blended cathode could play an important role in the next generation of more affordable and durable electric vehicles and energy storage solutions.
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Tesla appears to be preparing to expand its Robotaxi geofence in Austin, Texas, with numerous engineering vehicles taking to the road. One of the most interesting sights, between the short and tall LiDAR rigs, was a Cybertruck validation vehicle, which we don’t often see.
Tesla’s expansion is moving the Robotaxi Network into downtown Austin, a dense urban environment that is currently outside the geofence. It appears Tesla is content with the latest builds of Robotaxi FSD and is ready to take on urban traffic.
The inclusion of a Cybertruck in the validation fleet is noteworthy, as the rest of the vehicles are Model Ys. This suggests that Tesla may be addressing two challenges simultaneously: expanding its service area while also addressing the FSD gap between the Cybertruck and other HW4 Tesla vehicles.
Tesla Validating Downtown Austin before expanding the Robotaxi geo-fence area. pic.twitter.com/ylFATtjcDi
Recent sightings have shown a fleet of Tesla vehicles, equipped with rooftop validation sensor rigs, running routes throughout downtown Austin and across the South Congress Bridge. While these rigs include LiDAR, it’s not a sign that Tesla is abandoning its vision-only approach.
Instead, Tesla uses the high-fidelity data from the LiDAR as a ground truth measurement to validate and improve the performance of its cameras. In short, it essentially uses the LiDAR measurements as the actual distances and then compares the distances determined in vision-only to the LiDAR measurements. This allows Tesla to tweak and improve its vision system without needing LiDAR.
This data collection in a new, complex environment right outside the Robotaxi geofence is an indicator that plans to expand the geofence. Tesla has previously indicated that they intend to roll out more vehicles and expand the geofence slowly. Given that their operational envelope includes the entire Austin Metro Area, we can expect more locations to open up gradually.
Once they expand the operational radius to include downtown Austin, they will likely also have to considerably increase the number of Robotaxis active in the fleet at any given time. Early-access riders are already saying that the wait time for a Robotaxi is too long, with them sometimes having to wait 15 minutes to be picked up.
With a larger service area, we expect Tesla to also increase the number of vehicles and the number of invited riders to try out the service.
After all, Tesla’s goal is to expand the Robotaxi Network to multiple cities within the United States by the end of 2025. Tesla has already been running an employees-only program in California, and we’ve seen validation vehicles as far away as Boston and New Jersey, on the other side of the country.
Cyber FSD Lagging Behind
One of the most significant details from these recent sightings is the presence of a Cybertruck. Cybertruck’s FSD builds have famously lagged behind the builds available on the rest of Tesla’s HW4 fleet. Key features that were expected never fully materialized for the Cybertruck, and the list of missing features is quite extensive.
Start FSD from Park
Improved Controller
Reverse on FSD
Actually Smart Summon
It may not look like a lot, but if you drive a Cybertruck on FSD and then hop in any of the rest of Tesla’s HW4 vehicles, you’ll notice a distinct difference. This is especially evident on highways, where the Cybertruck tends to drift out of the lane, often crossing over the lane markings.
Tesla was testing parts of Downtown Austin, TX with this Cybertruck which had a massive roof rack, and sensors.
We previously released an exclusive mentioning that a well-positioned internal source confirmed with us that a new FSD build for the Cybertruck was upcoming, but we never ended up receiving that particular build, only a point release to V13.2.9. The AI team’s focus had clearly shifted to getting the latest Robotaxi builds running and validated, and while a flagship, the Cybertruck fleet was small and new, and really a secondary task.
The Cybertruck’s larger size, steer-by-wire, rear-wheel steering, and different camera placements likely present a bigger set of challenges for FSD. Deploying it now as a validation vehicle in a complex environment like downtown Austin suggests that Tesla is finally gathering the specific data needed to bring the Cybertruck’s capabilities up to par. This focused effort is likely the necessary step to refine FSD’s handling of the Cybertruck before they begin rolling out new public builds.
When?
Once Tesla’s validation is complete, we can probably expect the Robotaxi Network to expand its borders for the first time in the coming days or weeks. However, we’ll likely see more signs of the expansion, such as Robotaxi vehicles driving themselves around the area, before the expansion actually happens.
Hopefully, the Cybertruck will also learn from its older siblings and receive the rest of its much-needed FSD features, alongside an FSD update for the entire fleet.
Tesla is rolling out a fairly big update for its iOS and early-access-only Robotaxi app, delivering a suite of improvements that address user feedback from the initial launch last month. The update improves the user experience with increased flexibility, more information, and overall design polish.
The most prominent feature in this update is that Tesla now allows you to adjust your pickup location. Once a Robotaxi arrives at your pickup location, you have 15 minutes to start the ride. The app will now display the remaining time your Robotaxi will wait for you, counting down from 15:00. The wait time is also shown in the iOS Live Activity if your phone is on the lock screen.
How Adjustable Pickups Work
We previously speculated that Tesla had predetermined pickup locations, as the pickup location wasn’t always where the user was. Now, with the ability to adjust the pickup location, we can clearly see that Tesla has specific locations where users can be picked up.
Rather than allowing users to drop a pin anywhere on the map, the new feature works by having the user drag the map to their desired area. The app then presents a list of nearby, predetermined locations to choose from. Once a user selects a spot from this curated list, they hit “Confirm.” The pickup site can also be changed while the vehicle is en route.
This specific implementation raises an interesting question: Why limit users to predetermined spots? The answer likely lies in how Tesla utilizes fleet data to improve its service.
Here is the new Tesla Robotaxi pickup location adjustment feature.
While the app is still only available on iOS through Apple’s TestFlight program, invited users can download and update the app.
Tesla included these release notes in update 25.7.0 of the Robotaxi app:
You can now adjust pickup location
Display the remaining wait time at pickup in the app and Live Activity
Design improvements
Bug fixes and stability improvements
Nic Cruz Patane
Why Predetermined Pick Up Spots?
The use of predetermined pickup points is less of a limitation and more of a feature. These curated locations are almost certainly spots that Tesla’s fleet data has identified as optimal and safe for an autonomous vehicle to perform a pickup or drop-off.
This suggests that Tesla is methodically “mapping” its service area not just for calibration and validation of FSD builds but also to help perform the first and last 50-foot interactions that are critical to a safe and smooth ride-hailing experience.
An optimal pickup point likely has several key characteristics identified by the fleet, including:
A safe and clear pull-away area away from traffic
Good visibility for cameras, free of obstructions
Easy entry and exit paths for an autonomous vehicle
This change to pick-up locations reveals how Tesla’s Robotaxi Network is more than just Unsupervised FSD. There are a lot of moving parts, many of which Tesla recently implemented, and others that likely still need to be implemented, such as automated charging.
Frequent Updates
This latest update delivers a much-needed feature for adjusting pickup locations, but it also gives us a view into exactly what Tesla is doing with all the data it is collecting with its validation vehicles rolling around Austin, alongside its Robotaxi fleet.
Tesla is quickly iterating on its app and presumably the vehicle’s software to build a reliable and predictable network, using data to perfect every aspect of the experience, from the moment you hail the ride to the moment you step out of the car.
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