Tesla Stock Soars To Record High As China Approves New Battery

Chinese authorities have granted Tesla their approval to begin mass production of Model 3 with a new type of battery, lithium ion phosphate (LFP), Reuters reports, citing a statement by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, batteries contain no cobalt—one of the more expensive components of EV batteries and the object of ethical mining controversies since most of the world’s supply of cobalt is concentrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where child labor is rife. The new batteries…