Here’s why Slate changed the battery in its cheap EV truck

Slate 为何更换其廉价电动皮卡的电池？

Slate, maker of the stripped-down EV pickup truck, found another way to simplify its product: the battery. When the startup revealed its starting price on Wednesday — $24,950 before destination, taxes, and other fees — it also said it had changed its battery strategy, eliminating the optional 240-mile pack but bumping the standard pack from 150 miles to 205. 极简电动皮卡制造商 Slate 为简化产品找到了新途径：电池。周三，这家初创公司公布了 24,950 美元（不含运费、税费及其他费用）的起售价，同时宣布调整了电池策略：取消了可选的 240 英里续航电池包，并将标准电池包的续航里程从 150 英里提升至 205 英里。

How Slate pulled that off illustrates just how significantly the battery market in the U.S. has changed in the past four years. Initially, the startup planned to use nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cells. The chemistry is widely used in the automotive industry and favored for its energy density, which translates into longer range. But NMC is also expensive, mostly due to high nickel and cobalt prices. Slate 的这一举措充分说明了过去四年美国电池市场的巨大变化。最初，该公司计划使用镍锰钴（NMC）电池。这种化学体系在汽车行业应用广泛，因其能量密度高、续航里程长而备受青睐。但 NMC 电池成本高昂，主要原因是镍和钴的价格居高不下。

More recently, automakers have begun to use another chemistry, lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP). Battery packs that use LFP are less energy dense but cheaper by about 40%, thanks in part to lower-cost ingredients like iron, one of the main cathode materials, which replaces nickel and cobalt. 最近，汽车制造商开始转向另一种化学体系：磷酸铁锂（LFP）。使用 LFP 的电池包能量密度较低，但成本却降低了约 40%。这在一定程度上归功于铁等低成本原材料的使用，铁作为主要的阴极材料之一，取代了镍和钴。

There were good reasons why Slate, and other automakers, started with NMC. The LFP supply chain today is concentrated in China. That wasn’t always the case — early U.S. battery startup A123 Systems was founded to commercialize the technology. But after a few missteps, it fell into bankruptcy and was bought in 2013 by a Chinese auto parts company. Since then, Chinese battery companies have embraced the chemistry and dominated production of LFP cells. Slate 和其他车企最初选择 NMC 电池是有充分理由的。如今，LFP 的供应链高度集中在中国。情况并非一直如此——美国早期电池初创公司 A123 Systems 成立之初正是为了将该技术商业化。但在经历了几次失误后，该公司破产，并于 2013 年被一家中国汽车零部件公司收购。自那时起，中国电池企业便全面拥抱这一技术，并主导了 LFP 电池的生产。

LFP’s foreign origin meant that, before last summer, EVs that used it wouldn’t qualify for a $7,500 tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act. Only batteries made of materials sourced domestically or from companies with which the U.S. had a free trade agreement would qualify. But when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act axed the tax credits, those concerns evaporated, as well. Chinese manufacturers were back in consideration. Slate said it is working with Hefei-based battery company Gotion to source the cells, which will be built at a factory in Illinois, according to InsideEVs. 由于 LFP 源自海外，在去年夏天之前，使用该电池的电动汽车无法获得《通胀削减法案》规定的 7,500 美元税收抵免。只有使用美国本土或与美国有自由贸易协定国家所产材料的电池才有资格获得抵免。但随着相关法案取消了税收抵免，这些顾虑也随之烟消云散，中国制造商重新进入了车企的考虑范围。据 InsideEVs 报道，Slate 表示正与总部位于合肥的电池公司国轩高科合作采购电芯，这些电芯将在伊利诺伊州的一家工厂进行组装。

The other reason automakers passed over LFP batteries was their limited range. Automakers selling into the U.S. market have prioritized range, though vehicles that can travel more than 300 miles on a charge tend to be pricey — pretty much the opposite of what Slate is going for. In reality, most people don’t need that much range, and as charging networks have grown in size, reach, and speed, range anxiety is gradually waning. 车企此前冷落 LFP 电池的另一个原因是其续航里程有限。面向美国市场的车企一直优先考虑续航，但单次充电续航超过 300 英里的车型往往价格昂贵——这与 Slate 的定位背道而驰。事实上，大多数人并不需要那么长的续航，随着充电网络在规模、覆盖范围和速度上的提升，里程焦虑正在逐渐减弱。

While LFP cells will never match NMC in energy density, modern variations of the chemistry have helped close the gap. Ford, GM, Rivian, and Tesla all offer models that use LFP cells. The industry’s embrace of LFP cells has also coincided with its transition to cell-to-pack technology, which Slate is using to build its battery packs. 虽然 LFP 电池在能量密度上永远无法与 NMC 媲美，但该化学体系的现代改进版本已缩小了这一差距。福特、通用、Rivian 和特斯拉都提供了使用 LFP 电池的车型。行业对 LFP 电池的拥抱，恰逢其向“电池包直接集成技术”（Cell-to-Pack, CTP）的转型，Slate 正是利用该技术来制造其电池包。

Previously, when automakers assembled a battery pack, they first loaded cells into modules, which were then loaded into the pack. That setup allowed them to use pouch cells, which are cheaper and lighter. But over time, they realized the module approach canceled out the cost and weight savings the pouch cells offered. Though some EVs still use modules, the industry is moving toward cell-to-pack construction, in which rigid batteries, either prismatic or cylindrical, are loaded directly into the pack itself. 此前，车企在组装电池包时，通常先将电芯装入模组，再将模组装入电池包。这种结构允许使用更便宜、更轻的软包电池。但随着时间推移，他们发现模组方案抵消了软包电池带来的成本和重量优势。尽管一些电动汽车仍在使用模组，但行业正转向 CTP 结构，即直接将方形或圆柱形等刚性电池装入电池包中。

Cell-to-pack trims manufacturing steps and boosts volumetric energy density, a helpful trait for a small EV like the Slate truck. Plus, LFP cells can be charged to 100% with fewer concerns about degradation than NMC, meaning drivers can use the full pack on a daily basis. CTP 技术简化了制造步骤并提高了体积能量密度，这对像 Slate 皮卡这样的小型电动汽车非常有益。此外，LFP 电池可以充电至 100%，且比 NMC 电池更不用担心性能衰减，这意味着驾驶员可以每天使用电池的全部容量。

While there was probably a moment when Slate’s leadership had to green-light the switch from NMC to LFP, the momentum toward that decision had been building for years. LFP won’t take over the entire market — automakers like GM are betting on an entirely different chemistry — but its combination of low cost and decent range make LFP an obvious choice for what will be the cheapest EV in the U.S. 虽然 Slate 的领导层在决定从 NMC 转向 LFP 时可能经历过权衡，但这一决策的势头多年来一直在积聚。LFP 不会完全占领市场——像通用汽车这样的车企正押注于完全不同的化学体系——但其低成本与不错的续航表现相结合，使其成为打造美国最廉价电动汽车的必然选择。