With over 800 battery industry insiders in attendance, the International Battery Seminar featured Kurt Kelty, Senior Director of Battery Technology at Tesla, as their keynote speaker. The house was packed — it was standing room only to hear Kelty's keynote. Kelty leads Tesla forging key partnerships and battery cell material sourcing at the Gigafactory. He's also responsible for material cost reduction efforts and the overall performance of Tesla's batteries. Before joining Tesla, Kelty worked at Panasonic for nearly fifteen years. Sitting nearby (and listening intently) were competitors from other automakers like China's BYD. Outside the conference hall, a gleaming BMW i8 was on display.

*This article comes to us courtesy of Evannex (which also makes aftermarket Tesla accessories). Authored by Matt Pressman.

Before the keynote presentation, the 34-year-old International Battery Seminar presented Tesla with its prestigious Battery Innovator of the Year award. Kelty accepted the award on behalf of Tesla and noted it was an, "honor to receive the award… everyone recognizes we're not a battery chemistry company – that's not why we got the award, it's more [about] the implementation of the technology." It's worth noting that Jeff Dahn, Tesla's top battery researcher, received the same award last year. Dahn also spoke at the conference (following Kelty) but his discussion centered around very early, preliminary battery research that might lead to incremental advances in battery chemistry in the years to come.