I thought the convention was to add a zero to the end so as not to confuse a cylindrical cell with some tiny button battery. I guess 46800 was too long for Elon, and he must be saving a fortune in ink for documentation with just 4680.
Anyone seen anything about what the actual chemistry is?
Watch the presentation. It is about an hour long but covers all your questions and more. Starts by explaing why they need the new battery. Somehow the press just didn’t understand.
This link skips the shareholder meeting and starts at battery day.
If you don’t want to sit through why they are doing this, skip to 1:08:20
Tesla needs several TWh/yr battery production to meet storage and vehicle demand.
46mm costs less and improves energy density
Tabless greatly reduces internal resistance. > higher charge and discharge currents. Lower resistive heating losses. > better power to weight ratio.
The 5x energy +16% range 6x power graphic doesn’t include chemestry or other improvments. It represents tabless form factor alone. Tesla’s protype batteries are much better.
Tesla are ramping a 10GWh/year pilot plant now. Prototype cells have been in vehicles for months. They’ve made 10’s of thousands of cells but the yield isn’t great.
Varioius cathodes, all zero Cobalt. Fe for storage and low cost EV. NiMn for most EVs. High Ni for maxium energy density. (Tesla Semi mentioned. I suspect aircraft too)
Several process improvments to reduce cost and improve scalablity.
49% reduction in cell cost per kWh.
2 to 3 “Tesla” years to reach full production. They are always late, so 2.5 to 4 years??
Actually, the 5 digit system was to follow the button type cell. The first two digits for diameter in approximate millimetres, the three last digits for height in tenths of a millimetre. As cylindrical cells have approximate dimensions, the resolution of height in 0.1mm is redundant.
Thanks. Here’s the actual break down in intelligence: “because we couldn’t figure out what it was for, we just assumed it wasn’t for anything.”
OT
This is the first time I have ever heard Musk speak. It so often happens with famous rich people that no one can give them bad news, like, “I am sorry, Mr. Jackson, Propofol is not something you can have; it requires an anesthesiologist to administer, you have no valid need for it; it would be illegal… so, no.” Someone should tell Musk, and make certain he understands that it matters, that he can’t speak for sh!t, and that he should actually put effort and time into improving that, as doing it well can be learned, and it would benefit his enterprise immensely. The worst thing a smart person can do is assume they know everything, and then surround themselves with yes men with no ability to tell truth to power.
True, compared to vehicle demand, power tools won’t drive this. And these cells certainly won’t be showing up in your average drill kit. But they’d be great for cordless lawn mowers and other large tools! That kind of application should provide at least some incentive to mainstream this size of cell.