Hey NBC, just FYI you seem to have finally caught the attention of the Great Firewall of China, no idea why though. I'm using "magic" to load this page right now.
Yeah... The article is super misleading. Basically VW has contracted a company to develop a method for dry coating in mass application. This is exactly what Tesla has been trying to do since 2020. And this is proving to be difficult. There is no guarantee VW will be any more successful (besides the contracted company credentials). The contract runs for a year. What will happen to it if a product fails to materialize at the end of it?
The author is writing about what VW will try to do as compared to what Tesla is already doing. Sure Tesla has been slow to ramp their 4680 cells but those numbers are increasing. VW has yet to produce any 4680 cells.
The 50% cheaper to make 4680 battery that Tesla promised a while ago is still a pipe dream as Tesla hasn't yet mastered the dry electrode coating production method at scale. VW, however, may beat it to the punch with dry-coated cathodes thanks to a partnership with a German printing firm.