Tesla has reached a important milestone in the production of its 4680 batteriesdoubling production in just 101 days. The company announced it had produced 100 million cells, after reaching 50 million in June. This rapid increase could indicate that Tesla has solved the scalability issues for this new battery format..
The production of the 4680 cells, unveiled in September 2020, was fraught with challenges. Tesla aimed to create a battery with higher energy density and lower production costs, essential to making a $25,000 electric car. Despite initial difficulties, the company appears to have made significant progress in recent months.
In May, CEO Elon Musk gave the team in charge an ultimatum: resolve issues by the end of the year or abandon the project. The sudden increase in production suggests that decisive progress may have been made.
Tesla is now producing an average of 495,000 cells per day.
It took the company 29 months to produce the first 50 million cells, but only 3 months for the next 50 million. This exponential increase could be linked to the introduction of dry cathode technology, announced in July during testing of the Cybertruck prototype.
Implications for vehicle manufacturing
With the current level of production, Tesla has made enough cells to power about 60,000 Cybertrucks. The 4680 batteries are in fact mainly intended for this new model.
The increase in production of 4680 cells is crucial to the cost reduction strategy of Tesla. If the company has actually managed to perfect the production process, may be able to more quickly achieve the goal of offering electric vehicles at more affordable prices.
It remains to be seen whether this increase is due to the introduction of dry cathode technology or simply to an optimization of existing production. In any case, The milestone represents an important step toward realizing Tesla’s vision of making electric vehicles more affordable and widespread..
Source: www.tomshw.it
