Battery update shift to LFP

[Trace26]

Would be interesting to know if LFP will be used on both standard and long range. I'm thinking to get the longer range they'll probably need to stay with the higher density NMC.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Would be interesting to know if LFP will be used on both standard and long range. I'm thinking to get the longer range they'll probably need to stay with the higher density NMC.

Has Slate announced their battery choices already?

 

[danielt1263]

Has Slate announced their battery choices already?

Mike the Car Geek knows a guy (Mark Phelan) who says that it came to him directly from the CEO.

But for some reason, this "veteran journalist" did not apparently think the announcement was remarkable in any way and didn't even bother to quote the CEO in his article.

 

[BobbyMcGee]

Would be interesting to know if LFP will be used on both standard and long range. I'm thinking to get the longer range they'll probably need to stay with the higher density NMC.

Youtubers do basic journalism. And we should support their efforts. In a lot of cases, they're they only ones doing basic journalism.

 

[kvermeer]

Mike the Car Geek knows a guy (Mark Phelan) who says that it came to him directly from the CEO.

But for some reason, this "veteran journalist" did not apparently think the announcement was remarkable in any way and didn't even bother to quote the CEO in his article.

Again, I'm going to double down and wager that Phelan just made that factoid up and himself doubled down on it when Mike pressed him for details. That would've been an incomprehensibly strange way to bury the lede on what might be the biggest reveal that Slate's had since the April 2025 reveal.

The series C funding was important, the executive team shuffle was notable, various drips and dregs of clarification from the chat team and snapshots from videos were interesting, but I've seen no other major fundamental changes since the initial reveal.

IMO, Slate's weakest feature has always been the NMC battery. Maybe the tow capacity for some, and maybe the cost of the SUV kit for others, but probably the battery. Going to LFP would reduce the cost and also resolve a ton of cell degradation concerns!

 

[KevinRS]

Again, I'm going to double down and wager that Phelan just made that factoid up and himself doubled down on it when Mike pressed him for details. That would've been an incomprehensibly strange way to bury the lede on what might be the biggest reveal that Slate's had since the April 2025 reveal.

The series C funding was important, the executive team shuffle was notable, various drips and dregs of clarification from the chat team and snapshots from videos were interesting, but I've seen no other major fundamental changes since the initial reveal.

IMO, Slate's weakest feature has always been the NMC battery. Maybe the tow capacity for some, and maybe the cost of the SUV kit for others, but probably the battery. Going to LFP would reduce the cost and also resolve a ton of cell degradation concerns!

The strength of NMC and weakness of LFP is density though. The difference in density is right about where using a LFP of the same size as the extended range NMC gets you the standard range. If they had gone LFP from the start, without raising the bed and reducing the cargo capacity, the max range option would have been 150.

 

[BobbyMcGee]

We're gonna find out the final specs soon enough, but CATL's latest LFP batteries have been shipping for the last year, and one of their purported innovations is closing the gap in energy density with NMC -- while being even cheaper than before.

 

[beatle]

I wonder if SK On is going to ship LFP cells into the country. Or if Slate is going to only release the extended battery trucks initially until the GA LFP line starts cranking out automotive cells.

 

[GaRailroader]

Would be interesting to know if LFP will be used on both standard and long range. I'm thinking to get the longer range they'll probably need to stay with the higher density NMC.

That is what I want to know as well. If the long range is LFP also then it is an easy decision for me, I’m getting the long range. However, if the long range is NMC and standard range is LFP it will be a tougher decision.

Slate did tell 1 forum member that the extended range would be cheaper than the SUV kit at $5k. So if we just set $4k as the probable price of the extended range does it seem reasonable that it would be that low to credit 53kWh of LFP and buy 84kWh of NMC and the net difference would be $4k. For me I would think a chemistry change would result in a bigger delta than $4k which could indicate that both standard and extended range are same chemistry.

 

[Trace26]

That is what I want to know as well. If the long range is LFP also then it is an easy decision for me, I’m getting the long range. However, if the long range is NMC and standard range is LFP it will be a tougher decision.

Slate did tell 1 forum member that the extended range would be cheaper than the SUV kit at $5k. So if we just set $4k as the probable price of the extended range does it seem reasonable that it would be that low to credit 53kWh of LFP and buy 84kWh of NMC and the net difference would be $4k. For me I would think a chemistry change would result in a bigger delta than $4k which could indicate that both standard and extended range are same chemistry.

The thing about pricing is they're going to charge what people will pay.
They might have better profit margins on the standard range LFP but they know no one will buy the long range model for more than 4k extra so it's priced accordingly.
Businesses do this kinda thing all the time.

Story time: I worked in inventory and pricing in a small business and would set items as I described. Well the business was getting tight and the owner decided to set pricing themselves and sales went to near 0 because they tried to set everything on a fixed markup. Went from a mark-up between 200%-10% to everything being 50%.