Summary Response Draft #4

 The article “Everything You Need To Know About Tesla’s New 4680 Battery Cell”, written by (Field, 2020), introduces the features and function of the all-new 4680 tabless rechargeable battery, which is a type of lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery that is manufactured primarily by Tesla and other companies. According to Lambert (2023), It is currently featured in the Model Y that is being produced in Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas and it is the first battery cell to feature a different chassis or battery pack design. The 4680 is a gamer changer for Tesla and will enable a completely new generation of low-cost electric vehicles according to Field. Tesla’s 4680 battery cell’s all new features will bring a lot of benefits compared to previous iterations, including higher performance, better thermal management, and lower cost benefits, but it is still a technical immaturity as it is a relatively new technology. 

Tesla’s all new 4680 battery is designed with the dimensions 46mm x 80mm (Length x Diameter), which results in high power and energy density providing higher performance. According to Field (2020), the larger 4680 contains more active battery material, which results in 5x improvement in energy storage and delivers 6x more power, thus increasing the cruising range by 16% more compared to the previous 2170 battery. The EcoLithiumBattery (n.d.) website states that as the 4680 is using all-pole/non-pole lug design, the electrons can move freely in the battery with lesser resistance compared to the previous batteries produced by Tesla, which results in faster charging. From the same website, a test report shows that it only takes 20 minutes to charge the 400V 4680 battery to 60%.

Tabless 4680 battery leads to better thermal management. The all-new 4680 battery design welcomes the introduction of all-pole/non-pole lug design scheme. Metal tabs, which are used to connect individual layers, are removed, and conductive materials will then be used to fabricate the two ends of the battery. This results in the current moving freely in the battery, which results in better thermal management compared to previous iterations that has the tab design. According to Chen (2023), with the new form factor of the 4680 batteries, the battery gets an increase in surface area as it is now tabless, thus resulting in a wide heat transfer channel which achieves an 20% improvement on heat dissipation effect over the 2170. Takoma Battery's Manufacturing Techniques & Market Report (2022) states that with the new form factor being bigger, the current path is made shorter from 250 mm to 50 mm, and thus the conduction area for current is larger, greatly reducing the impedance, which results in the rise of temperature, while high current charging and discharging are smaller. This will result in longer and safer battery life as the battery's degradation will not hasten over a prolonged period of time.

New battery design also results in lower cost benefits. As the 4680 battery is larger in dimensions compared to other Tesla’s previous battery iterations, it will have higher structural strength, and so it is suitable for Cell to Chassis technology (CTC), which enables Tesla to save cost during the manufacturing stage, resulting in huge cost benefits. According to the website EcoLithiumBattery (n.d.), Tesla has eliminated the need for a battery pack and in turn integrated the battery on the chassis itself. This in turn has helped Tesla greatly reduce the manufacturing cost as the parts needed to produce the battery packs will be saved. 4680 batteries are adopting the dry electrode technology that Tesla pioneered. This technology greatly reduces the number of steps that are needed in traditional wet electrode coating, thus eliminating the need for expensive coating machines and increasing production speeds up to seven times enabling mass production, which results in huge cost benefits (Chen, 2023).

Although the 4680 is an outstanding battery in terms of technology and feature rich on paper, it is still a new technology which faces technical immaturity and production challenges compared to other previous iterations which are in production in the market today. An article from Reuters (2023) states that the first-generation 4680 cells built at Tesla’s factory failed to meet the energy density target. While Tesla has been successful at dry coating the negative electrode, they face issues on the positive electrode where it will bring the most gains for Tesla.

In conclusion, the Tesla new 4680 battery cell is a game changer in the industry as it has brought many improvements over the previous iterations. Higher performance batteries resulting in longer range and faster charging, better thermal management which results in longer and safer battery life and cost benefits obtained by new technology. It is expected to have a significant impact in the electrical vehicle industry, but as it is a new technology, it still faces technical immaturity and production challenges.


References

Chen, K. (2023, Mar. 19). 4680 battery information - battery technology upgrade. LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4680-battery-information-technology-upgrade-keven-chen


EcoLithiumBattery. (n.d.). What are benefits after Model Y change to tesla 4680 battery?
https://www.ecolithiumbattery.com/what-are-benefits-after-model-y-change-to-tesla-4680-battery/


Exclusive: Tesla taps Asian partners to address 4680 battery concerns. (2023, Mar. 10). Reuters.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-taps-asian-partners-address-4680-battery-concerns-2023-03-10/


Field, K. (2020, Sep. 22). Everything you need to know about tesla’s new 4680 battery cell. CleanTechnica.
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/09/22/everything-you-need-to-know-about-teslas-new-4680-battery-cell/

 

Lambert, F. (2023, Apr. 21). Tesla gives update on its game-changing 4680 battery cell. Electrek.
https://electrek.co/2023/04/21/tesla-update-4680-battery-cell/


Takomabattery. (2022, Oct. 18). Tesla 4680 battery manufacturing techniques & market report.
https://www.takomabattery.com/tesla-4680-battery/


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