Tesla Project Charter: 100 MWh Lithium-Ion Battery for South Australia

This project charter outlines the development of a 100 MWh lithium-ion battery pack for the State Government of South Australia, aimed at reducing blackouts and providing electricity grid stability. The project, undertaken by Tesla, involves a detailed schedule, resource allocation, risk management plan, and communication strategy to ensure successful completion within 100 days. The charter addresses key aspects such as project background, objectives, deliverables, milestones, and budget requirements, providing a comprehensive framework for project execution.

Assignment 2: Project Charter

Executive Summary
Lithium-Ion Batteries are exceptionally possessed good efficiencies and functionalities in
operations. It is electrochemical energy storage has high electrochemical potential and
theoretical capacity. It also possesses reliable technology for recharging and also very
popular for large projects. Tesla Company is helping the State Government of Southern
Australia in reducing the blackouts and supports in shortfalls of electricity by the implication
of 100 MHh battery. This battery comprises cathode, anode and separator electrolyte. The
Ions are conducted through the electrolyte and during the charging phase, the anode has the
high concentration of lithium and cathode has the lowest concentration of lithium due to
depletion. During discharging the ions reaches the cathode via electrolyte from the anode.
The associated electrons are a move towards the collector which leads to the generation of
power in the cell. The lithium-ion batteries are packaged into a large module for the high
energy and high power applications (Daniel, 2008).
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Table of Contents
1. Project Background................................................................................................................3
1.1. Project Background.........................................................................................................3
1.2. Project goal......................................................................................................................3
1.3. Project objective..............................................................................................................3
1.4. Project Deliverable..........................................................................................................3
1.5. Strategic alignment of project.........................................................................................3
2. Project Schedule.....................................................................................................................3
2.1. Milestones.......................................................................................................................3
2.2. Project requirements........................................................................................................4
2.3. Limits and exclusions......................................................................................................5
2.4. Work/ process breakdown schedule................................................................................5
3. Time and cost management....................................................................................................8
3.1. Time management...........................................................................................................8
3.2. Cost management............................................................................................................8
4. Resource management...........................................................................................................9
5. Risk management.................................................................................................................10
6. Communication management plan.......................................................................................12
7. Conclusion............................................................................................................................12
8. Recommendations................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................14
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1. Project Background
1.1. Project Background
Elon Musk is of the Tesla Company wanted to remove the problem of continuous blackouts
at the South America by establishing a lithium battery pack of 100 MWh. South Australia
suffered many of the blackouts in last few time of span. There is not enough time of power to
meet the demand and presented this suggestion of battery pack to prevent the regular
blackouts. This establishes a great agreement between the Tesla and the State Government for
developing the lithium-ion battery pack within 100 days.
1.2. Project goal
Need of complete the project of 100 MWh megawatt battery for the State Government within
100 days of span. This will provide stability in the electrical grids at the South Australia and
also to provide emergency backup in case of shortfalls. It also includes that there 100 days
free for the South Australians taxpayers.
1.3. Project objective
To develop a project plan for the battery development within the duration of 100 days with
the specified requirements and there should be proper support of the state government. This
will reduce the increasing number of blackouts at the South Australia.
1.4. Project Deliverable
There will be a developed Lithium-Ion Battery Pack having capability of 100 MWh and it
must be ready at the end of the 100th day. It will be better to complete it some days before so
that it can save for the time of transportation in between development site to installation site.
1.5. Strategic alignment of project
The project will be divided into number of stages within the specified time of 100 days. The
business depends on the public welfare where the demand of the customer will be meet and
they did not affect from the blackouts. With the development of the project, there must be
proper testing of the battery before installation because it plays an important role in the
business of the Tesla Company also. This also contributes to the competitive advantage of the
Tesla Company with the other companies in making agreements with the government (Yang,
2016).
2. Project Schedule
2.1. Milestones
The milestone are final achievement of a task that has to be executive to complete the task.
The marked milestone for the project is shown in table below. According to the requirements
the milestones has been decided and if any modification is required, it will be discussed in the
meeting with the stakeholder.
Table 1: Milestone Table
S. No. Project Milestone Target date
1 Project initiation complete Fri 6/8/18
2 Completed the collection of raw materials Fri 6/22/18
3 Final design of battery Thu 7/5/18
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4 Complete manufacturing process Wed 8/1/18
5 Completion of the battery pack Fri 8/10/18
6 Complete Testing Fri 8/24/18
7 Transportation Fri 8/31/18
8 Complete Installation Fri 9/21/18
9 Final Testing Fri 10/12/18
10 Project Closed Fri 10/12/18
2.2. Project requirements
The requirement of the project holds the materials required, the human resources and the
other requirements needed to accomplish the project. Here it includes the raw material for the
development of the battery, the team members and their roles and lastly the major
requirements such as transportation. Here it also involves the specifications of the budget
required for the collection of the materials required, the human resources and the other
requirements to accomplish the project on time.
 Raw material
It includes the material required for the construction of the lithium-ion battery and they
approximate material are given in the table below:
Table 2: Raw Materials
S. No. Title Description
1 Anode (Dry) Active – Binder
Collector- Copper
Lithium-metal oxides
2 Cathode (Dry) Active- Carbon
Collector- Aluminium
Lithium or lithium-alloy materials
3 Electrolyte Organic solvent
4 Separator Synthetic fibre
5 End plates Conducting materials
 Project Team members
It includes the role played by the team members to accomplish the project plan so that every
stage of the battery development can take place effectively.
Table 3: Project Role
S. No. Role
1 Project Manager
2 Battery Designer
3 Manufacturing manager
4 Testing manager
5 Installation manager
 Budget Requirements
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This is the approximate budget planned for the collection of the requirement for the project
plan.
Table 4: Raw Material Budget
S. No. Title Cost
1 Anode (Dry) $1500
2 Cathode (Dry) $2000
3 Electrolyte $1500
4 Separator $2000
5 End plates $1000
Total $8000
Table 5: Budget for Team Members
S. No. Team Member Payment
1 Project Manager $55000
2 Battery Designer $35000
3 Manufacturing manager $40000
4 Testing manager $50000
5 Installation manager $60000
Total $2,40,000
Table 6: Budget for other requirements
S. No. Other requirements Price
1 Transportation charge $1,00,000
2 Installation charge $90,000
3 Maintenance charge $2,00,000
Total $3,90,000
2.3. Limits and exclusions
The main limits and exclusion of the project are:
 All raw material is present at the development site
 The limitation of the project plan is 100 days
 Batter construction experts also available to provide the appropriate advice
 The provided raw material is an approximate value for the construction
 All resources are provided by the Tesla Company
 There will be full support of the associated stakeholders of the project such as
Government, legal advisers, Tesla Members and all department
 The communication will be proper through the project development
2.4. Work/ process breakdown schedule
The work/ holds process breakdown schedule holds a working of five per day in which team
member works with collaboration so that project can be accomplished on time and the Tesla
Company can install the battery at Southern Australia. It gives definition to each task and
which task is better and which will be the subtask (Tutorialspoint, 2018).
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Figure 1: WBS
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Tesla Project
1. Project initiation
1.1. Planning
1.2. Meeting with
stakeholder
2 . Collection of raw
materials
2.1. Identification
2.2. Collection
3. Design of battery 3.1. Creation of design
4. Manufacturing of
battery
4.1. Assemble the
components
4.2. Develop coating
and separation
between anode and
cathode
4.3. Compress and dry
4.4. Apply Slitting
Process
5. Packing of batteries
6. Testing 6.1. Testing of battery
working
7. Transportation
8 . Installation of
batteries
9. Testing at installation
site

The schedule of the work breakdown structure includes the end date and start along with the
duration such that the project can accomplish within the specified time. This is for the Tesla
Project which should meet the objective of developing the Lithium Ion Battery.
Table 7: Schedule plan for Tesla Project
S.
No.
Project Stages Start date End date Duration
1 Project initiation Mon 5/28/18 Fri 6/8/18 10 days
1.1 Planning Mon 5/28/18 Fri 6/1/18 5 days
1.2 Meeting with stakeholder Mon 6/4/18 Fri 6/8/18 5 days
1.3. Project initiation Fri 6/8/18 Fri 6/8/18
2 Collection of raw materials Mon 6/11/18 Fri 6/22/18 10 days
2.1 Identification Mon 6/11/18 Wed 6/13/18 3 days
2.2 Collection Thu 6/14/18 Fri 6/22/18 7 days
2.3. Completed the collection of
raw materials
Fri 6/22/18 Fri 6/22/18
3 Design of battery Tue 6/26/18 Thu 7/5/18 7 days
3.1. Creation of design Tue 6/26/18 Wed 7/4/18 7 days
3.2. Final design of the battery Thu 7/5/18 Thu 7/5/18
4 Manufacturing of battery Thu 7/5/18 Wed 8/1/18 20 days
4.1 Assemble the components Thu 7/5/18 Mon 7/9/18 3 days
4.2 Develop coating and separation
between anode and cathode
Tue 7/10/18 Mon 7/16/18 5 days
4.3. Compress and dry Tue 7/17/18 Wed 7/25/18 7 days
4.4 Apply Slitting Process Thu 7/26/18 Wed 8/1/18 5 days
4.5 Complete manufacturing
process
Wed 8/1/18 Wed 8/1/18
5 Packing of batteries Thu 8/2/18 Fri 8/10/18 8 days
5.1 Conduct Packaging Thu 8/2/18 Fri 8/10/18 8 days
5.2 Completion of the battery pack Fri 8/10/18 Fri 8/10/18
6 Testing Mon 8/13/18 Fri 8/24/18 10 days
6.1 Testing of battery working Mon 8/13/18 Fri 8/24/18 10 days
6.2 Complete Testing Fri 8/24/18 Fri 8/24/18
7 Transportation Mon 8/27/18 Fri 8/31/18 5 days
7.1 Transportation of developed
Lithium-Ion Battery
Mon 8/27/18 Fri 8/31/18 5 days
7.2. Transportation Done Fri 8/31/18 Fri 8/31/18
8 Installation of batteries Mon 9/3/18 Fri 9/21/18 15 days
8.1 Installation starts Mon 9/3/18 Fri 9/21/18 15 days
8.2 Complete Installation Fri 9/21/18 Fri 9/21/18
9 Testing at installation site Mon 9/24/18 Fri 10/12/18 15 days
9.1. Test the installed battery pack Mon 9/24/18 Fri 10/12/18 15 days
9.2. Final Testing Fri 10/12/18 Fri 10/12/18
10 Project Closed Fri 10/12/18 Fri 10/12/18
*Red Text represents the milestone for the schedule plan.
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**Saturdays and Sundays are holidays.
Figure 2: Gantt Chart
3. Time and cost management
3.1. Time management
The time for each activity is already specified under the work breakdown structure and it has
to be followed for accomplishing the each task. If any of the task get delayed then delayed
time have to be managed in other stage so that project could complete in the specified time.
This is a type of time management. Some of the techniques for better time management are:
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 Organising regular meeting sessions
 Focus on achievement of each milestone
 Follow schedule strategically
 Allow better team coordination
 Allocate resources very wisely so that there can be lease resources allocation
(Smartsheet, 2017)
Figure 3: Network Diagram
Figure 4: Closure view of Testing of installed battery pack includes the basic details of time
3.2. Cost management
For the cost management, project manager is responsible for handling all the resource
allocation and managing their work’s cost through the project. It has the responsibility to
handle cost of the raw material allocation and project cost’s performance. All the cost
overrun are due to time delay or wrong allocation of the resources. If there is any change in
the project budget, this will directly affect the progress of the project so it is better to keep
margin initially so that project may not distract in between the schedule (Meredith & Mantel,
2011). There should be performance evaluation of each stage of Tesla Project on the basis of
the cost applied whether the work in progress is appropriate one or not. The proposed cost
management plan is developed here given in the table below.
Table 8: Allocation per Team member
S.
No.
Team Member Number of
working
days
Cost per
one day
Cost per
hour
Payment
1 Project Manager 33 days $ 2000 $400 $66000
2 Battery Designer 7 days $ 5000 $1000 $35000
3 Manufacturing
manager
25 days $ 1600 $320 $40000
4 Testing manager 30 days $ 2000 $400 $60000
5 Installation manager 15 days $ 4000 $800 $60000
Total $2,40,000
Table 9: Cost Per stages
S.
No.
Project Stages Cost per stage
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1 Project initiation $ 83000
2 Collection of raw materials $ 20000
3 Design of battery $35000
4 Manufacturing of battery $32000
5 Packing of batteries $16000
6 Testing $20000
7 Transportation $10000
8 Installation of batteries $60000
9 Testing at installation site $30000
Figure 5: Task Cost variance
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Figure 6: Cost Variance with allocated resources
Figure 7: Cost status for top-level tasks
4. Resource management
With the resource management, the resources are allocated to each stage in the schedule of
the Tesla Project. The allocation is done according to the skills of the resources assigned to
the project of Lithium Battery. The Resources allocation states that the assigned resource will
work on a phase of schedule and for a specific time period. This limits the timeframe for the
assigned resources such that they have to work for the stage and complete the stage till the
milestone of the stage will be achieved (Thakur, 2011). There can be time management
between the subtasks but the milestone has to be achieved on the decided date of the project
management.
Table 10: Resource Allocation
S. Project Stages Start date End date Duration Resource
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No. Allocation
1 Project initiation Mon
5/28/18
Fri 6/8/18 10 days
1.1 Planning Mon
5/28/18
Fri 6/1/18 5 days Project
Manager
1.2 Meeting with stakeholder Mon 6/4/18 Fri 6/8/18 5 days Project
Manager,
Battery
Designer,
Manufacturing
manager,
Testing
manager,
Installation
manager
1.3. Project initiation Fri 6/8/18 Fri 6/8/18
2 Collection of raw
materials
Mon
6/11/18
Fri 6/22/18 10 days
2.1 Identification Mon
6/11/18
Wed
6/13/18
3 days Project
Manager
2.2 Collection Thu
6/14/18
Fri 6/22/18 7 days Project
Manager
2.3. Completed the collection
of raw materials
Fri 6/22/18 Fri 6/22/18
3 Design of battery Tue
6/26/18
Thu 7/5/18 7 days
3.1. Creation of design Tue
6/26/18
Wed 7/4/18 7 days Battery
Designer
3.2. Final design of the
battery
Thu 7/5/18 Thu 7/5/18
4 Manufacturing of battery Thu 7/5/18 Wed 8/1/18 20 days
4.1 Assemble the
components
Thu 7/5/18 Mon 7/9/18 3 days Manufacturing
manager
4.2 Develop coating and
separation between
anode and cathode
Tue
7/10/18
Mon
7/16/18
5 days Manufacturing
manager
4.3. Compress and dry Tue
7/17/18
Wed
7/25/18
7 days Manufacturing
manager
4.4 Apply Slitting Process Thu
7/26/18
Wed 8/1/18 5 days Manufacturing
manager
4.5 Complete manufacturing
process
Wed 8/1/18 Wed 8/1/18
5 Packing of batteries Thu 8/2/18 Fri 8/10/18 8 days
5.1 Conduct Packaging Thu 8/2/18 Fri 8/10/18 8 days Project
Manager
5.2 Completion of the battery
pack
Fri 8/10/18 Fri 8/10/18
6 Testing Mon
8/13/18
Fri 8/24/18 10 days
6.1 Testing of battery Mon Fri 8/24/18 10 days Testing
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working 8/13/18 manager
6.2 Complete Testing Fri 8/24/18 Fri 8/24/18
7 Transportation Mon
8/27/18
Fri 8/31/18 5 days
7.1 Transportation of
developed Lithium-Ion
Battery
Mon
8/27/18
Fri 8/31/18 5 days Project
Manager
7.2. Transportation Done Fri 8/31/18 Fri 8/31/18
8 Installation of batteries Mon 9/3/18 Fri 9/21/18
8.1 Installation starts Mon 9/3/18 Fri 9/21/18 15 days Installation
manager
8.2 Complete Installation Fri 9/21/18 Fri 9/21/18
9 Testing at the installation
site
Mon
9/24/18
Fri
10/12/18
9.1. Test the installed battery
pack
Mon
9/24/18
Fri
10/12/18
15 days Testing
manager
9.2. Final Testing Fri
10/12/18
Fri
10/12/18
10 Project Closed Fri
10/12/18
Fri
10/12/18
Figure 8: Resource Overview
5. Risk management
The management of risk is significant in a project charter and it includes the identification of
the possible risk for the project. For the risk management, there is the development of risk
register which includes the description of the risk, what is the likelihood of the risk, its
impact, type of response and the mitigation strategy. It is better to identify the possible risk
before the implementation of the stage and with it, the strategy can easily be found to
mitigate the risk. All team members also deploy for the risk identification in their respective
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stages (Azzali & Mazza, 2018). Risk can be related to the raw material, resource allocation,
skills of the resources, installation of the battery, packaging and so on.
Figure 9: Risk Matrix
Table 11: Risk Register
Name Description Likelihood Impact Response
type
Mitigation strategy
Risk 1 Misconduct in the
design of the
battery
H Affects the
battery
performance
and
functionality
High Re-evaluate the design and
take advice from an expert
Risk 2 Poor quality of raw
material
M Affect the
lifespan of the
battery and
increase the
manufacturing
cost
Low Raw material must be
purchased under the
professional advisor and
under the specification
Risk 3 Defect in
manufacturing
M Affect the
functioning of
the battery
Medium Involve the expert
Risk 4 Defect in packaging L Poor packaging
leads to failure
of demand to
manage the
shortfalls of
electricity
High Involve the expert
Risk 5 Poor conduct of
testing
H Project may fail
due to poor
testing
Low Develop two or more test case
for a single test to check the
probability of errors
Opportu
nity
Help the shortfalls
of electricity
H Help the State
Government to
reduce the
blackouts
High
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When the project is at the stage of the completion, it is the responsibility of the project
manager for evaluation the project plan regarding the identified risk. The risk management
process can help in detecting the risk and the mitigation techniques can also be applied at the
time of requirement. The evaluation will lead to some improvement in the project which
enhances the possibility of the project success. The Tesla Project is of high budget and will
take a specified time span to develop; the deliverable of the lithium battery must be
successful. With this aim, risk management plays a significant role in the project success.
6. Communication management plan
This plan is responsible for setting the communication framework and it is responsible for
serving as a guide throughout the project process. This plan can be updated when required but
it seems to be the appropriate one to follow. With the help of this plan, the team members
also understand their responsibility that when will be they required for the project
communication plan (Dozier, Grunig and Grunig, 2013).
Table 12: Communication Plan
Communication
type
Description Frequenc
y
Format Participants
Report Status report Weekly Email Project Manager
Report Meeting
report
Weekly Email Project Manager, Battery
Designer, Manufacturing
manager, Testing manager,
Installation manager
Feedback Stakeholder
review
Weekly Questionn
aire
Project Manager, Battery
Designer, Manufacturing
manager, Testing manager,
Installation manager
Feedback Evaluation of
design
Weekly Meeting Project Manager, Battery
Designer
Group
Discussion
Evaluation of
manufacture
d battery
Weekly Presentati
on
Project Manager,
Manufacturing manager
Meeting Review on
testing
Weekly Presentati
on
Project Manager, Testing
manager
Meeting Review on
installation
Weekly Presentati
on
Project Manager, Installation
manager
7. Conclusion
This report demonstrates the project charter for the ‘Tesla Project’ in which 100MWh
Lithium Battery Pack will be developed for the support of the electricity sector in Southern
Australia. This report explains the project background, objectives, goals, deliverables and
some more basic requirements. After this, the report describes the project requirements and
represents the work breakdown structure in addition to schedule plan for the charter. The
charter also contains the description of the milestones that have to be achieved in addition to
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the limits and exclusions. Next part of this report is the management part. Initially, the time
and cost management is explained on the basis of the requirement and also on the basis of the
MS project Tool. Thereafter, the report demonstrates the resource management by allocating
the resources to the schedule of the project and for the specified duration. Later, the risk
management has been explained and here the risk register has been involved for the
explanation of the risk possibility. Later the communication plan has been explained by
considering the team members of the project. With the development of this charter, it
becomes to predict the development of the Lithium Ion Battery Pack and its installation at the
site.
8. Recommendations
For the recommendation of the ‘Tesla Project’, the following points must be considered:
 Proper gather the raw material required for the battery manufacturing under the
required environmental conditions. It makes them not to react with environmental
gases.
 Each task must be achieved till its milestone, another excess delay will cause cost
overruns
 Installation should be under the provision of experts and professional advisors.
 Testing should be done from each aspect starting from the designing to the working,
efficiency and performance of the battery.
 Designing of the battery must be verified by the professional designers before
proceeding towards the manufacturing
 Manufacturing of the battery must be done carefully while considering all the
dimensions of the battery
 Project manager should keep alert every time during the project such that task should
complete the project
 There should be regular meeting sessions such that team should be kept motivated
while conducting the project plan.
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References
Daniel, C. (2008). Materials and processing for lithium-ion batteries. JOM, 60(9), pp.43-48.
Smartsheet (2017). Conquer Project Time Management with the PMBOK Approach. [online]
Available at: https://www.smartsheet.com/project-time-management [Accessed 27 May
2018].
Thakur, S. (2011). Project Resource Plan: Example and Explanation. [online] Brighthub
Project Management. Available at: https://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/119659-
example-of-a-project-resource-plan/ [Accessed 27 May 2018].
Tutorialspoint (2018). Work Breakdown Structure. [online] Available at:
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/work_breakdown_structure.htm
[Accessed 27 May 2018].
Yang, T. (2016). Strategic Alignment of Projects. [online] Energy. Available at:
https://www.energy.gov/articles/how-make-battery-7-steps [Accessed 27 May 2018].
Dozier, D.M., Grunig, L.A. and Grunig, J.E., 2013. Manager's guide to excellence in public
relations and communication management. Routledge
Azzali, S. and Mazza, T., 2018. The Internal Audit Effectiveness Evaluated with an
Organizational, Process and Relationship Perspective. International Journal of Business and
Management, 13(6), p.238.
Meredith, J.R. and Mantel Jr, S.J., 2011. Project management: a managerial approach. John
Wiley & Sons.
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