Tesla produced its millionth large-format 4680 battery in January, according to a tweet from the company’s official account posted Friday.
The 4680 cells, so far manufactured at a facility in California, are key to Tesla’s plan to continue to increase range and performance while reducing costs. The name refers to their size — 46 mm wide x 80 mm long. That makes them significantly larger than Tesla’s current 2170 cells, measuring 21mm wide and 70mm long.
The first production vehicles using 4680 cells will be Y-style crossover model built at Tesla’s new plant in Texas.
Future Tesla cells will generate power, increase energy
Tesla has said that 4680 cells have about 5 times more energy density than 2170 cells. The Model Y has 4,416 cells in the 2170 format used for vehicles currently built at Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California. So if Tesla had the same capacity, it would need less than 1,000 cells per vehicle. So one million 4680 cells is enough for more than 1,000 Model Ys.
Celebrating our 4680th millionth cell in January pic.twitter.com/d19IPFu18u
– Tesla (@Tesla) February 18, 2022
Still, a million is still a fraction of what Tesla will need to move all Model Y (and related Model 3) production to 4680 cells. Tesla delivered 296,850 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles last year.
Panasonic is also supposedly ready for mass production cell format for Tesla. The Japanese company is Tesla’s main supplier, although last year its EV battery boss expressed some skepticism about the new format in an interview, noting that the cells could be susceptible to damage. more particulate contamination, which may result in a fire.
Tesla has said that the enhancement of the new cell format will ensure the delivery of Semi at the end of 2021but in January, Tesla confirmed that the Cybertruck and Roadster were all delayed to 2023.
