Responding to the question of whether Tesla will indeed require flake graphite, Hykawy commented, “that’s actually an extrapolation that people have made. Tesla has a partner named Panasonic (TSE:675219) that makes all its batteries,” and at the moment Panasonic “uses nothing but synthetic graphite in those batteries.”

Explaining why that’s the case, he noted that synthetic graphite is “the only thing [Panasonic has] tested across a long enough period of time to be comfortable with the safety profile. It’s the synthetic that they’ve been using for a long period of time” and “will probably continue to use.”

That’s not to say that natural graphite will never have a place at Tesla. “Tesla’s made statements that it wants to make sure that its cars are manufactured in the most cost-effective manner possible, but also in the greenest manner possible,” said Hykawy, adding that the company will be better able to do that “if it weren’t to use synthetic.” That’s because making synthetic graphite is not only expensive, but also “a messy, energy20-consumptive, carbon-emitting thing to do.”

Just don’t expect a transition to flake graphite to happen overnight. Tesla “likely will transition gradually to natural,” said Hykawy, also stating that the company “will probably do it much in the manner that other companies have done, which is start with a core of natural and coat it with synthetic.”

All in all, he emphasized, the