I don't doubt Tesla wants its own battery operation (vertical integration seems to be a big thing in Musk's book), but I don't really see how Maxwell fits with that. They're a capacitor company. Sure sticking big ole caps next to batteries is great for instant power but it's not like the skill set of manufacturing one really translates to manufacturing the other.

The reason Tesla bought Maxwell isn't ultracapacitors, but their solventless dry electrode tech for making better and cheaper li-ion batteries. Higher energy density, no cobalt needed, cheaper/faster battery production.

Recommend reading up on it, it's fascinating and quite widely covered online.

It's a win on many fronts for Tesla if they can make it work.

> but it's not like the skill set of manufacturing one really translates to manufacturing the other.

They're not?

While batteries store energy in a chemical reaction and capacitors store it in an electric field; physically their construction is very similar.

Super capacitors, like batteries, have plates and use an electrolyte. They are also packaged similarly.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=industrial+capacitor&t=fpas&iax=im...

I would imagine there is quite a bit of overlap in manufacturing and chemistry.