Tesla is said to install ‘4680 cylindrical battery’ for the first time in its electric vehicle ‘Model Y’. The 4680 battery is twice as large as the existing standard 2170 cylindrical electric power supply. If the energy density and productivity of the 4680 batteries are verified, it is expected that it will also affect the medium and large (pouch and square) battery market, which has been widely used as electric vehicle batteries so far.
Tesla will produce Model Y with a 4680 cylindrical battery at the Texas Giga Factory this year. Batteries are mass-produced at Panasonic’s Wakayama plant in Japan. Initially, battery cells were scheduled to be produced locally in the U.S., but Tesla’s battery supplier Panasonic chose to produce their own batteries to complete battery quality. This is because Panasonic had a lot of difficulties in building facilities by dispatching professional personnel locally when it established a local joint venture with Tesla in 2014.
The 4680 battery is 46mm in diameter and 80mm in length, the largest among cylindrical battery standards. In September 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduced the battery as a next-generation product at Battery Day. It is expected that the energy density will be three times higher and output power will be two times higher than that of the existing 2170-standard cylindrical batteries.
The global battery industry is paying attention to mass production of 4680 batteries by Tesla and Panasonic. This is because if the energy density and productivity of the 4680 batteries are verified, the market may change as demand from automakers increases. LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI are also planning to release mass-produced products with a standard of 4680 within this year. However, it is still unknown whether it will accurately meet the 4680 standards.
By Staff Reporter Tae-jun Park (gaius@etnews.com)