WEBVTT - Musk Commits to Tesla CEO Role and Plans Political Pullback 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:10.560 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is Bloomberg Business 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:14.440 Week Daily reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.400 stay ahead with insight on the people, companies, and trends 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:23.440 shaping today's complex economy, plus global business, finance and tech 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:27.360 news as it happens. The Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:32.559 with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio Well. 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.440 Elon Musk giving a wide ranging interview earlier today with 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:39.440 the Bloomberg's Michelle Hussain at the Qatar Economic Forum Some News. 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.280 Musks that he's committed to still leading Tesla five years 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:44.640 from now and expects to pair back his political spending, 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.680 assuaging some investors' concerns about the future of his most 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.360 valuable company. He also addressed the attacks on the Tesla 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.440 brand and the actual cars too. Here's part of the 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:58.320 conversation with Bloomberg's Michelle Hussain at the Qatar Economic Forum. 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.560 In terms of political spending, I'm going to do a 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:02.520 lot less in the future. 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:04.480 And why is that. 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:07.800 I think I've done enough? 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.360 Is it because of blowbuck Well? 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.880 If I see a reason to do political spending in 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:17.840 the future, I will do it. 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:19.400 I don't recurrently see a reason. 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.560 That was Elon Musk talking about pulling back on political 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:26.040 spending with Bloomberg's Michelle Assan at the Kaitar Economic Forum. 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:28.479 We've got Max Chafkin with us. He's the co host 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:32.200 of the new Bloomberg podcast Everybody's Business. He's also the 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.080 co host of the not so new podcast but still 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.959 pretty great podcast it's called Elon Ink, and a reporter 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.360 for Bloomberg BusinessWeek. When he's not doing the podcast so reporting, 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:44.000 he joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio. 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.600 I'm glad that's what we played, because that's getting a 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:51.040 lot of attention right now. And I heard that, and 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:53.400 I went back to Elon's Twitter from March of twenty 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.800 twenty four, and that's when he posted on X this 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:00.560 is over a year ago, I will not tribute to 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.880 either political candidate, and we all saw what happened a 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:07.680 few months later. My point is he says stuff and 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:09.760 doesn't necessarily commit to it. 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.600 Yeah, and even here he's building himself an out right. 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:17.600 He's saying less money, which you'd kind of expect anyway. Right, 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:22.240 midterms are not as expensive as presidential years. So like 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.720 it would be very surprising if he dropped another three 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.600 hundred million dollars, which is roughly what he spent in 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:31.600 twenty twenty four on twenty twenty six. And he's also saying, 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:33.680 you know, I would it's it's I don't see a 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:35.519 reason now, But if I did see a reason in 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:39.559 the future, I could I see this as a public negotiation. 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:39.960 Right. 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.040 This is the audience here, well, they aren't. There are 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:47.000 several different audiences. One of course is Tesla's shareholders trying 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.720 to say like, look, I'm I'm focused on the company. 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.320 I'm not getting sucked into Washington, going to try to 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:54.600 deal with some of the brand damage that my political 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:58.280 presidence has caused. But of course the other audience is Republicans. Right, 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.239 He's he's putting it out there that if they want 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.760 money from him, they're going to have to do stuff. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.040 And you know, there's lots of stuff that has happened 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.760 in Washington since Donald Trump took office that I think 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.359 has made Elon Musk really happy. But Elon Musk is 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.080 a very long list, and not all those things have happened. 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.600 There are lots of opportunities for him to get contracts. 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.160 You know, the Golden Dome, as you were discussing, like 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.600 that's a potential revenue source for SpaceX. There are lots 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.360 of areas that Elon Musk stands to benefit. You also 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.560 have this in the bill right now, like they're plan 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.680 cutting these EV subsidies. Now, we will see where that 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.640 ends up. But if those EV subsidies are cut completely, 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.680 that could really hurt Tesla. So I think I think 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.840 it's to his advantage to say, hey, I'm you know, 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.560 I'm not a gimme for twenty twenty six. You have 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:48.520 to win my support. 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:49.320 Hey, listen. 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.600 One are the things that we noticed, Max. We got 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.280 went on air about two o'clock Wall Street time, and 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.360 then shortly thereafter we saw the market pull back and 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:59.560 go down to its lows. So we sell some selling. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.120 We were talking about our Eric Wiener here, who covers 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:03.880 the equity marketing. So a lot of that was with 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:09.120 Tesla doing an interview with CNBC and talk about robotaxis 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.400 and saying that they will be a thousand robotoxies in 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.680 Austin within a few months, and part of his was 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:17.760 saying the cost of that, there's still a lot to 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.000 be worked out in terms of liabilities. So I'm just 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.000 curious some of the comments that we got from our 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.080 interview as well as just Elon talking a lot today. 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.800 So the Robotaxi thing, I think part of the challenge, 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:34.400 one of the challenges for Tesla is there's so much 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.160 sort of assumed in the stock. The Tesla bulls basically 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:41.440 believe that almost overnight they're going to be able to 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:46.520 turn this thing into a massive, massive business. And I 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.120 think everything we know from the history of other companies 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.160 trying to launch these robotaxi things, and I'm thinking particularly 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.800 of Waimo, Google's driverless car division, which has been doing 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:00.080 this for like ten years and has really struggled to commercialize, 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:01.640 is that it's going to take a long time. And 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:03.719 when you look closely at what Musk is saying is 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:05.679 going to happen in Austin, if you are not paying 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.279 that close attention, if you're just sort of buying this, 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:10.920 like on robin Hood, you hear Elon must say, you know, 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.039 robotax is going to heat over the world. You think 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:14.520 they're going to turn this on, They're going to be 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.640 huge fleets, It's going to be very small, you know. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:18.800 On the during the earnings call. 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:23.040 We learned something like ten to twenty robotaxis with tele operation. 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.279 That's that's people, you know, sitting in command centers making 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:27.599 sure the cars don't hit anybody. 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:30.160 It's going to be certainly what WEIMO does by any. 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.360 Means, No, it's it's closer to it's maybe what WEIMO did, 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.800 you know, years ago, And it's just it's a realization. 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:38.920 I think that this is going to take a long time. 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.599 So I don't know. Elon Musk has this kind of 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.880 amazing ability to spin stories about the future to get 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.360 people excited about the future, and he may be able 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:49.360 to do that. But but like Tesla's stock has gone 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.760 up a lot in recent weeks, you know, And no, 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.200 some of that has to do with you know, terriff 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.400 expectations and so on. But this is a very valuable 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.320 company relative to the number of cars it sells. 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.719 Max in the interview that he gave to our team 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.120 at the Guitar Economic Forum earlier today, he was asked 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:09.800 about protesters or the Tesla brand damage, and what he 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:13.400 answered was he said, quote, they're on the wrong side 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.599 of history, and that's an evil thing to do. That's 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.719 referring to people damaging Tesla cars and showrooms. Something needs 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:20.760 to be done about them, and a number of them 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.040 are going to prison and they deserve it. It seems 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.000 like he's certainly there were reports of damage to Tesla 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.640 vehicles and damage to test Tesla shrooms, but there's also 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.120 been these protests that happened happening at Tesla showrooms all 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.719 over the country, especially during his work with Doge, that 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.880 were not violent. Yeah, it seems like he's He's also 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:43.520 in the past talked about these people being part of 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:47.719 some bigger movement. He's referred to them online as being paid. 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:49.400 Have we seen any evidence of that? 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.000 No, there's no evidence, no good evidence that the people 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.440 who are showing up at these Tesla protests are paid. 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.719 You know, I would say that there's a he's conflating 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.200 a couple of different things. But you know, and having talked, 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.120 we did a podcast episode on Eline a week and 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:08.320 a half ago with a former Tesla sales manager, and 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.400 who he's talking about is like, the real danger is 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.080 not these protesters, not somebody showing up to a protest, 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.400 It's just somebody not buying. And like that is a 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:19.960 thing that even if you remove the protests, the protests 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:21.800 are of course not good for the brand. They're an 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.640 expression of unhappiness and so on. It doesn't lead to 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:29.600 good headlines. Obviously, protests can sometimes get out of hand, 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.600 but also it's just a lot of people, I think, 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:35.680 do not want to be associate associate their car with 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.640 something this controversial. And what he was saying is that 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.400 when Musk started, what this Tesla manager was saying is 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.000 that when Must started getting involved in politics a couple 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.000 of years ago, they had people come into the Tesla 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.840 stores and argue and say, you know, I like the car, 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.160 but I don't like this. You know, still very engaged. 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:54.560 And when he said what changed as Must became more 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.560 and more engaged, is they just stopped coming. They just decided, 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.920 you know, screw this, Like I don't want to be 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.480 associated with something that's controversial. And when you look at 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:04.600 what's happening in the sales, like that's what's showing up. 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.760 It's not the protesters, it's just the people not buying. 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:09.600 And that's the thing that's going to be hard to 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:10.200 turn around. 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.520 I think in terms of Tesla, the business just real quickly. 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:15.720 I mean, I think you talked about things are turning around. 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:16.280 Is he right? 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.200 I think investors are certainly hoping, so we have not 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.560 in Again, in the publicly available data, there is very 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.320 little to support and that support this. Now Elon Musk 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:30.200 is saying it's happening, trust me, and he's citing the 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.280 stock price now. As I said earlier, the stock price. 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:35.800 Lots of things are driving the stock price, but one 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.240 of the big things is expectations around Trump's tariffs, in 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.439 other words, having nothing to do with sales. So he's 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.400 saying you should trust me that the business is turning around. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.200 Because Tesla's stock is up substantially over the last month. 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.440 That doesn't to me suggest that sales are definitely up. 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.400 What we've seen is numbers out of Europe and numbers 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:57.200 out of China still not good. The US we don't 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.440 really know yet, so we will see. But this is 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:03.360 not the kind of thing I think that can be 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.040 turned around in a matter of days or weeks. People 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.160 make decisions about buying cars over a term of years. 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.199 That's why car companies like spend so much doing brand advertising. 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:14.720 And so this is going to be This is going 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.520 to have created damage with at least some subset of 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.320 consumer that may be hard to undo. Now Musk did 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:26.040 say during the interview this morning in Qatar that some 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.160 people are buying Teslas because of who he is, and 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.160 there's a very memorable quote he said, maybe they're buying 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.240 it the people who are putting the stickers on the cars, 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:35.440 saying I bought this before he was crazy. Maybe some 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.640 people are buying it because he was crazy or whatever. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:41.240 So obviously making light of those stickers. Now, I don't 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:43.600 think we've really seen that show up in the data yet. 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.720 Cyber truck sales have not been great, although again this 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.000 stuff can take time. Maybe it will start to show up. 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:50.520 We'll see, We'll see, we'll see. 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:53.880 Always fun to listen from what Elon has to say, 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:55.959 but always fun to also get someone else's from. Max 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.840 Chafkin on all of It. Maxi crosco host of Everybody's Business, 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:01.920 senior reporter for Bloomberg News, author of The Contrarian Peter 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.280 Teal and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power, and of course, 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.559 one of the hosts of the Elon In podcast Check 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:08.800 It All Out at Bloomberg dot Com. 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:09.920 Are also on the Bloomberg Terminal. 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:14.680 Max, Thanks, you're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily podcast. 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.640 Catch us live weekday afternoons from two to five East 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:21.320 during Listen on Applecarplay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.480 Business app, or watch us live on YouTube. 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:29.439 I want to talk about batteries because last night, Jean. 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.440 Nicol, for every time you said you want to talk 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:32.959 about batteries, I'd. 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:33.400 Be a rich woman. 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.640 You would be because you like batteries. Batteries are in 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:37.679 everything and they're super important, especially when we think of 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.000 the electrification of vehicles. 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:40.640 Super important. 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:41.400 So what do you want to tell me? 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:43.840 Well, last night c ATL jumped in its Hong Kong 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:47.240 trading debut last night our time, I should say, correct 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:52.000 today Hong Kong time. This after the Chinese battery Giant 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:54.720 wrapped up the world's biggest listing this year, raised four 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.680 point six billion dollars. This despite being blacklisted by the 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.959 Pentagon and grinding through political storms. CTL is the largest 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:07.240 maker of EV batteries. It supplies batteries to Tesla, VW, FOD, Mercedes, 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.880 Benz and more. Our next guest, though, is working on 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.920 a different type of battery. See U Wong is a 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.400 founder in CEO of Factorial Energy. This is a company 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:20.840 that's working on solid state batteries. She joins us from Massachusetts. 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:23.720 See you. Good to have you on the program today. 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.719 I started out by doing some research when it came 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:28.880 to different types of batteries, and I was just thinking 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.320 to myself, No, I'm just going to have you answer 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.120 the question for us. If we think about the batteries 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.319 that are prominently featured in EVS right now, how are 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:39.760 these different than the solid state batteries that you are 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:40.600 developing at. 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.520 Factorial solid state batteries like a traditional battery, but instead 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.920 of using a liquid insight, it uses solid state or 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:52.480 quasi solid state material. And this makes a battery safer, 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.760 longer lasting, and more powerful because you can't store more 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.120 energy and it's less likely to leak or catch on fire. 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.960 Also more efficient and safer for everything from your cell 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:04.520 phones to electric cars. 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:06.240 Plus, our unique. 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:09.280 Dry coding process makes manufacturing cleaner and more cost effective. 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.680 So why is it so difficult to make an EVY 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:13.080 battery a solid state battery? 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:16.400 Well, there are different part of the challenges coming to play. 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.640 The biggest challenges scale up. I mean that has been 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.080 uh that's value for a lot of battery companies, from 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:27.040 the first minimal viral product to the manufacturer with a 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:31.280 really good quality and cost effective product. And on top 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.560 of that, it's really the supply chain challenges. I think 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:38.160 that's definitely very central to all the battery players in 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:38.600 the world. 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:40.240 And last, butt of the. 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.000 Least, I think it's really coming down to the execution, 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:47.560 right from a startup to a giant supply chain player 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.920 in the value chain for the batteries really the big difference. 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:54.200 So I think that's really coming down to the execution 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.800 and also the conviction from the leadership team. 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:01.480 Wait, so help me understand to in turn of scaling up, 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:08.120 what's the biggest impediment? Is it resources? Financial, resources, materials? 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:09.960 I'm trying to understand because you guys have been working 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.000 on this for a while, and I understand there's development 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.520 and all of that takes some time. But tell us 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:19.199 what's kind of the biggest point or factor that's holding 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:20.440 you guys back at this point. 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.640 Yeah, I would see there are probably mostly three areas. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.320 But I think the biggest hurdle when it comes from 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:28.839 a technology to a real product is really to scale 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.800 up the battery itself. You know, traditionally we have batteries 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:33.959 like with our cell phone size batteries when a lot 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:37.120 of smaller started to de developing, even as small as 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:41.079 your watch battery, like a coy cell battery, and it's 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.760 a big hurdle scale from like small cell phone batteries 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:45.920 to like a big automotive sized battery. 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.040 Actually, I brought up a post type that. 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.480 The audience today that this is actually one hundred empower 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.079 battery which is launched in twenty twenty three, and actually 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.679 we're brought into the b sample earlier last year as well, 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.040 So this is actually an automotive size battery, and it's 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.760 a huge from a cell phone size battery to automotive 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.880 size battery. It's a lot of work to put into 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.800 like manufacturing, design the battery, and also even to keep 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.720 the quality and cost on track. So I think that's 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:21.880 really the top biggest challenge for making a battery, alongside 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:25.680 with also the cost, the equality checking the. 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.280 Battery that you're holding right now that would be a 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.160 battery that would go into an electric vehicle. 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:30.960 Yeah. 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.920 So actually we launched with Mercedes together earlier this year 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:39.040 the first solid state battery vehicle with the Global OEM, 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.680 and we're putting the lithium metal solid state battery that 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.040 we produced and we're able to power the vehicle of 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:49.560 EQS and with our battery which is bringing higher energy 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.400 and it's a denser energy, so it gives you a 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.040 less volume and also. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.280 A lighter, smaller battery. 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.640 It actually delivers a longer range and also be able 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.920 to more caustic FUSHI ending the long run. So this 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.600 is what we have delivered with Mercedes earlier this year 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.920 in the EQS and it's actually powering the vehicle and 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:10.520 it was running on the street of Stutgart. 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:14.000 So just for those who are listening on radio, you 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:15.640 know CEU has been holding up. 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:17.520 We all know our car. You know what our cell 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:18.720 phone looks like in the small. 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.320 Batteries, but this one was about It looked like it 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.240 was about a foot and a half long, maybe four 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.760 inches wide. It was very light. Was that the actual 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:30.240 battery that batteries are heavy? Was that actually the weight 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:34.760 of an actual car battery, a solid state car battery. 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.400 Yes, that could be a much lighter compared with the 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:42.160 traditional lithium mind batteries. Right, we're using a lithium metal 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.440 in the anode, which is the lightest metal on. 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.880 Earth and also has a. 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.040 Lightest weight as ano material has highest capacity as an 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.680 ano material, so it does give you much higher energy 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:57.960 density from the volume metric age density to the guadametricity perspective. 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.280 So we're able to enable about fifty to eighty. 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.640 Percent higher energy do as they compare with traditional time batteries. 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:07.000 And this means with the same size of battery you 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.240 can potentially give you like twenty thirty or even fifty 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.920 eighty percent longer range depends on the integration efficiency and 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.000 the same have the same energy battery, you potentially can 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.120 have like twenty to thirty percent lighter weight and potentially 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:24.680 lower weight and lower volume as well as a less 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.240 expensive vehicle compared to what you have today. 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:29.680 So kind of win win here, right, lighter weight can 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:31.880 go further. Hey, One thing, and this is actually coming 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:33.920 from the New York Times, which is also written about 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.640 what you guys are up to. It says that these 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.640 types of battery sales that are more prone to grow 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.440 spiky irregularities that cause short circuits best riches a weight 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.400 in a company that can overcome this problem develop a 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.720 battery that is durable, safe and reasonably easy to manufacture. 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:51.560 But these spiky irregularity is a cause short circuits. Is 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.160 that still an issue of problem that needs to be overcome. 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.400 It is a fundamental physics issue when it comes to battery. 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:02.560 When this cycling and is performing, it does. 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:02.960 Tend to grow. 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:06.200 There's little dyn drites over the lifetime of the battery. 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.280 So the difference between solid state versus a liquid battery 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:12.720 is that we're able to use the solid state material 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.800 as well as electrolyze to suppress the dyn dried growth. 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:17.240 So that's the little. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:21.600 Spiky lithium metal or the various materials will be able 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:27.280 to be suppressed when is being grown within the battery system. 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.560 So it's much lower risk of this short and also 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:34.439 even when it happens, it's much less hazard compared to 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.560 the liquid battery because it's the liquid system is much 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:40.920 more volatile when there's a normal embent. 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.200 What about when it comes to charging and the ease 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:50.160 and quickness of charging range anxiety gives people well anxiety 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:51.800 and what about. 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:55.320 Charging, Yes, I know there has been a lot of fuzz, 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.160 like big buzz around the charging space. I would say 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.800 for the solid state back the charging speed is very good. 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:06.000 Right now For our first generation causes only state battery, 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:10.240 we're able to deliver about eighteen eighteen minute fast charging 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.119 from like ten to ninety percent, and we're also we 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:15.879 can do potentially fifteen from like twenty to eighty percent. 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:20.160 So that's very much in line with where the lead 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:24.240 inmind battery does. But one thing to remember is that 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:28.959 we do deliver higher energy density, which means it's longer 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:32.720 driving range even as the same size as battery pack. 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.919 So with the same minutes of charging, even with the 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:38.320 same state of charge, you'll be able to deliver a 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.080 longer range per charge. So it's less about like how 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:42.960 many minutes you can fill up the battery, it's about 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:45.359 how many miles you can drive per charge. 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:53.480 So will you guys manufacture these batteries, what percentage are 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:55.920 without fault in other words, they work? 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:58.040 Yeah, that's a really good question. 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:01.439 Like people in the industry usually colid yield, which is 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:05.919 a very characteristic to evaluate how much scrap and how 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.919 much faulty batteries it is coming out of the line. 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.399 So typically for a Gigo factory, which is a huge 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:17.240 battery factories, you spend a two three billion dollars into this, 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:21.200 and that's a state of art is about ninety five 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:27.119 percent or higher compared with traditional like smaller size of 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:31.199 the manufacturing presence, and with the POWERT line which is 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.439 usually about two hundred three hundred, like what our line 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:36.399 and if you get you can get to seventy to 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:37.320 eighty percent yield. 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.359 It's already state of art in the industry. 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:42.520 So our line, which is a prototyping line right now, 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:46.680 is already over eighty five percent yield from our current 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:47.600 production line. 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:52.200 What about when it comes to competition, as Carol and 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:54.239 I mentioned, there are a lot of companies working on 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.840 this technology, how do you differentiate yourself from what is 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.720 out there, what's being worked on by competitors now, including 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:01.400 c Ato. 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:03.159 And that's a great point. 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.560 I mean, it's a great thing that solid state has 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:11.200 been perceived as the next generation to go product for batteries. 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:15.040