BY AFZAL YOUSAF
Elon musk hinted about new battery technology through his tweet months ago and in Tesla Battery day 22nd September 2020, they have unveiled new 4680 battery cell which is 6 times powerful, 5 times more energy and can give 16% more range than existing cells.
Read Tesla Battery day Highlights here.
In this article you can read details about Tesla's new 4680 battery cell and their plan to halve the cost per KWh.
Tesla unveiled their new battery cell 4680 in Tesla Battery event and claims they can reduce around 56% of overall cost of the cells. Cell is with bigger form factor and a tabless design. Dimension of the cell is 46mm by 80mm and naming them 4680 battery cell.
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| Source:- Tesla battery day event video |
Like Every researchers Tesla also faced Thermal management issues while increasing the capacity of the cells. As per reports tesla fixed this issue so brilliantly by the first Tabless cylindrical cell design and released new data related to the performance of the cells. And along with these data Tesla claims that new form factor of the cell results in five times increase in energy and six times increase in power capacity.
In the presentation, Tesla announced they have a plan to halve the cost per kWh in production. This plan includes five elements that together comprises a reduction of 56% of overall cost per kWh.
- Cell Design - 14%
- Cell Factory - 18%
- Anode Materials - 5%
- Cathode Materials - 12%
- Cell Vehicle Integration - 7%
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| Source:- Tesla Battery day event video |
When we look these elements closer, clearly we can understand the depth of the planning by Tesla team.
Cell Design
Tesla enters battery manufacturing process but will continue to buy cells from their suppliers. Their new battery cells 4680 (46mm by 80 mm) stores 5 times more energy, 6 times more power and gives additional 16% range to vehicles. Tesla enhanced the form factor by increasing size and decreasing resistance.
In order to manage the thermal issues, they designed a new cell architecture named Tabless design. New cell is expected to be simpler to manufacture and less capital investment needed to make and contribute to reducing 14% of per kWh cost of future batteries.
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| Source:- Tesla Battery day event video |
Cell Factory
Tesla designed high-speed continuous motion cell assembly line to produce huge quantity of cells. The assembly line will be capable to produce parts 7 times faster at 20 GWh per line. They eliminates the transition process in manufacturing and streamlined the production assembly.
Anode Materials
Significantly improving the cell chemistry, company plans to use Tesla Silicon as anode. Tesla Silicon is raw metallurgical Silicon which eliminates the need for time and cost intensive pre-processing of the material. To achieve the ability to use a raw form of Silicon, Tesla has been working to develop a “dry coating electrode manufacturing” process which transforms powderized Silicon into a film. Tesla estimates this will improve vehicle range by 20%.
Cathode Materials
Tesla will produce in-house cathode in Nevada. The process they have developed to produce their Cathode is simplified compared to standard manufacturing processes and is expected to reduce necessary capital expenditures by 66% and process cost by 76%. They claim the process is environmental friendly and produces zero water wastage.
Cell Vehicle Integration
Future Tesla vehicles will be built on single piece casting for front and rear body to accommodate the cells. They also developed new architecture for chassis that utilizes the structure of the body as the battery pack. The battery cells will be able to be more efficiently and tightly packed closer to the center of the vehicle. This improvements will reduce mass by 10% and improves vehicle range by 14%.
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| Source:- Tesla Battery day event video |
From this battery day announcements we can say Tesla has taken the matter by their own to speed up the battery cell evolution which is necessary for electric mobility.
What excites you most about the Tesla's plan?? Do you think this will be a revolution in Electric battery segment??
Comment your Queries and thoughts. Keep reading.
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