Million-Mile EV Battery Could Take You Around the Globe 50 Times

Tesla's Chinese battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) has released information about its battery that lasts more than a million miles — a distance equivalent to circling the globe 50 times.

Amongst other details, company chairman and founder Zeng Yuqun has said that the batteries, which will last sixteen years or 1.24 million miles (2 million kilometers), are "ready to produce."

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The news serves as a potential driver for consumers on the fence about getting an electric vehicle (EV), who might be tempted by slumping oil prices that are making internal combustion engine vehicles more competitive.

During an interview at CATL’s company headquarters in Ningde, China, Zeng detailed how the long-lasting batteries would cost 10% more to produce than standard models, Bloomberg reports.

Tesla and CATL penned a two-year contract starting in February for the supply of batteries to Tesla's Shanghai factory.

Tesla has been working on bringing a million-mile battery to its users for a while now — for its electric vehicles as well as for its energy products. The company recently hired the services of Jeff Dahn, a battery researcher at Dalhousie University in Canada. Dahn was tasked with helping with the development of long-lasting lithium-ion batteries.

Tesla's current warranty for its fleet of EVs lasts for eight years and varies between 100,000 miles to 150,000 miles, depending on the vehicle's variant — the Model S and Model X have the most extended mileage warranties.

China-based CATL is currently in the process of adding a facility in Germany that will also supply batteries to BMW, Volkswagen’s Audi unit, and Porsche, Zeng explained in his interview. There are, for obvious reasons, no current plans to bring a plant to the US.

More news is expected after Tesla's upcoming "Battery Day" event. In the meantime, Zeng says of his relationship with Elon Musk: “We’re getting along well, and he’s a fun guy. He’s talking about cost all day long, and I’m making sure we have the solutions.”