The Tesla Battery Day presentation is under way, and CEO Elon Musk has shown off a number of changes the company is making that he says can halve the cost per kWh of building electric vehicle battery cells. Just before showing off the $140,000~ Model S Plaid and its 200MPH+ top speed, Musk said these changes could be enough to help Tesla make the compelling $25,000 electric car that he’s previously promised. Other than the price, that car doesn’t have a name or even much of a shape to talk about just yet, and considering the path of the $35,000 Model 3 — we wouldn’t quite want to pre-order one just yet.
Along with Drew Baglino, SVP of powertrain and energy engineering at Tesla, Musk said the changes include new “tabless” cells that can contain six times as much power and increase range by 16 percent, “in body” battery engineering that makes the battery an integral part of the car’s frame, and plans to extract lithium from clay in the Nevada desert.