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LG invites battery startups to join competition with $1M cash prize

(Credit: LGES)

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LG Energy Solution (LGES) recently announced its annual Battery Startup Challenge 2022. LG’s battery subsidiary invites battery startups to join the international competition, which offers up to $1 million in cash prizes.

“By utilizing programs like Battery Challenge and Open Innovation, LGES aims to maintain its leading position in the battery industry,” said Youngjoon Shin, CTO of LG Energy Solution. “LGES will continue to expand battery-related research with promising startups as well as distinguished scholars and academic organizations around the world.”

LGES wants to identify battery startups with the potential for investment and collaboration through the competition. Any startup developing battery-related technology is welcome to participate in the challenge. However, the 2022 competition will focus on a few main categories– listed below.

According to information provided to Teslarati: “As many as ten startups will be selected as finalists, and each will receive funding as well as [the] opportunity for cooperation with LGES.” 

LGES will be accepting applications for the Battery Startup Challenge 2022 until September 16. The company will sponsor a visit to Seoul, Korea, for the ten battery startup finalists in February 2023. 

The lucky ten will pitch their work in battery development and participate in a workshop with LGES researchers, investors, and innovation teams. They will have the opportunity to collaborate with LGES and work on a proof-of-concept pilot project and other investment opportunities. 

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For more details, visit: https://lgesbatterychallenge.com/

The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.

Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Tesla Cybercab lead engineer shares optimistic update

The Tesla engineer shared the update following the one-year anniversary of We, Robot.

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(Credit: Tesla North America/X)

The principal mechanical design engineer of the Tesla Robotaxi has provided a rather exciting update about the upcoming all-electric autonomous two-seater. The Tesla engineer shared the update following the one-year anniversary of We, Robot, when Elon Musk took the wraps off the Cybercab and the Robovan. 

Cybercab, one year in

Tesla has done an excellent job keeping the details of the Cybercab under wraps since its unveiling last year. Apart from brief showcases at Tesla stores and sightings at Gigafactory Texas, the Cybercab’s development has been quite a mystery. In recent weeks, however, drone footage from Giga Texas showed the Cybercab being worked on at the factory’s crash testing facility. 

One year is a substantial amount of time, and considering Tesla’s reputation for consistently improving its vehicles well after they are unveiled, developed, and released, expectations were high that the company had also been busy refining the Robotaxi over the past year. This was confirmed by Tesla Cybercab lead engineer Eric E., who noted in a reply on X that the autonomous two-seater has made a lot of progress in the past year.

“It’s sooo good, and way better than it was a year ago as well,” the Tesla engineer wrote in a post on X. 

Cybercab expectations

Elon Musk has been very optimistic about the Cybercab, with the CEO previously stating that the vehicle’s production line would likely resemble a high-speed consumer electronics line instead of a conventional automotive assembly line. Other Tesla executives such as VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy and Senior Design Executive Franz von Holzhausen have also shared in interviews that the company is targeting a battery pack under 50 kWh for the vehicle, which should still be able to provide almost 300 miles of real-world range.

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Despite its small size, the Cybercab is still very spacious, offering probably the biggest legroom among the company’s current vehicles. Its trunk is also very large enough to fit an enormous amount of cargo. Musk has also mentioned that Tesla should ultimately be able to produce a Cybercab every five seconds.  

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Elon Musk may rethink his charity pledge after Peter Thiel’s Bill Gates warning: report

Musk reportedly took Thiel’s suggestion seriously.

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Credit: Tesla

Reports have emerged suggesting that Elon Musk might be rethinking his promise to give away most of his fortune. This was reportedly due to his longtime friend Peter Thiel, who told the world’s richest man to withdraw from the Giving Pledge because his wealth could end up “in left-wing nonprofits chosen by Bill Gates.”

Thiel shared the story during a private lecture series in San Francisco in September. As noted in a Reuters report, Musk reportedly took Thiel’s suggestion seriously.

Thiel warned Musk about his fortune going to Gates-backed causes

Thiel said he even ran the math to make his point. By checking actuarial tables, he calculated that if Musk died within a year, his pledge would effectively direct $1.4 billion to Bill Gates. Musk reportedly said, “What am I supposed to do, give it to my children? You know, it would be much worse to give it to Bill Gates.”

Musk signed on to the Giving Pledge in 2012, two years after it was co-founded by Gates and Warren Buffett, as noted in a Daily Beast report. The initiative asks billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes either during their lifetime or through their wills. Gates’ foundation has focused on global health, education, and gender equality, areas Thiel has described as “left-leaning.”

Spokespeople for Thiel, Musk, and Gates have not issued a comment about the matter.

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Elon Musk and Bill Gates

Thiel, who co-founded PayPal with Musk in 2000 before launching Palantir and becoming Facebook’s first outside investor, has maintained close ties to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO over the years. Musk, for his part, continues to donate through the Musk Foundation, which funds education, clean energy, and scientific research.

Elon Musk and Bill Gates’ relationship has taken a nosedive in recent years, especially amidst news that the Microsoft co-founder had taken a short bet against Tesla. Musk seemed to have taken Gates’ Tesla short personally, considering that the EV maker is fighting for sustainability, a cause that the Microsoft co-founder has supported. 

Gates has also been skeptical of Tesla’s projects such as the Tesla Semi, which Gates noted was not feasible due to the limitations of battery technology. More recently, the two billionaires butted heads when Gates claimed that the cuts initiated by Musk’s DOGE initiative would cost 2 million lives. In a post on X, Musk responded by stating that “Gates is a huge liar.”

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Tesla axed one of the Model Y’s best features in ‘Standard’ trims: here’s why

Lars Moravy explains why Tesla chose to go with a glass roof in the new Standard trims, despite it not being visible.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla chose to implement a glass roof on the new Model Y ‘Standard’, despite the fact that you won’t be able to see it from the inside.

In the new Model Y ‘Standard’ configuration, one of the biggest changes is the lack of a glass roof, which is one of the more unique features Tesla offers.

How Tesla’s Standard models will help deliveries despite price disappointment

The entire roof of the Model Y’s ‘Premium’ and Performance trims is glass, giving everyone in the car an astounding view of the sky.

However, Tesla chose to cover this up in the new ‘Standard’ trim level. Here’s a look at it:

Credit: ItsKimJava | X

Despite it not being visible from the inside, the roof is still made of glass. It is only visible from the outside. Even if you removed the headliner in the Model Y ‘Standard,’ you would not be able to see the outside, because the glass is opaque:

Tesla’s Vice President of Powertrain, Lars Moravy, commented on the use of glass in the Premium models and how it differs from the glass in the Standard trims:

“All glass is NOT created equal. Remember, the Model Y Premium glass is laminated with silver IR reflective coatings to make it super comfy and reject solar load… the standard is not… plus LOTS of people wanted a closed headliner, always trying to listen (and improve road noise at the same time).”

The decision to cover up the glass while still using it was an efficiency choice. Moravy said Tesla chose to keep the glass for the new Standard models due to “cost, supply chain, and manufacturing efficiency.”

Tesla launched the Standard models on Tuesday. The cars were effectively a counter to the loss of the $7,500 EV tax credit.

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