I guess by “size” he meant “cell count” rather than “volume”.
I guess we will know possibly next week, here is another video posted just 16 hours ago. Talk about massive runtime capabilities in a flashlight! This would be a game changer in the flashlight world!
https://www.youtube.com./watch?v=jK_soSRgMkM
LiFePO4? Glad to listen at. LiFePO4 features an ultra-flat discharge curve, this means their drive trains' performance won't degrade as the battery discharges. This may not mean much in practice because drivers do not usually demand full engine power at all times, but it is worth saying.
On the other hand, hope this means someone with an open mind gets to improve LFP batteries energy density speaking. And when I say lads & lasses with an open mind, I allude to believers in everything's possible.
Because, in all honesty, lithium nickel and other classic “4.2V max” chemistries feature gradually diminishing output voltage curves, which was chosen to help powered device electronics measure battery state of charge (SoC), but it is a drawback in every other respect, particularly when high or top performance is required. Flat discharge curves or constant output voltage is considered quintessential by some (like me), as they model a voltage source. It also makes all available energy in a battery useable regardless of power output.
Providing an example to better ilustrate this, i.e. with a LiFe battery an electric vehicle will provide close to the same performance regardless of battery state of charge, versus with a li-ion battery, whose vehicle performance is sure to degrade as the battery gets discharged:
/Sony%20US18650VTC6%203000mAh%20(Green)-Capacity.png)
/LFP18650%201500mAh%20LiFePO4%20(Violet)-Capacity.png)
Or maybe they are using über boost-buck converters (guess not).
LFP needs improvements, in any case. Quite logical when you compare the relative development of LiFe by the big players (pretty scant) versus their development of all the remaining high voltage li-ion variants.
With three 40mm cells, with their wrappers on, the battery tube would have to be over 3.5 inches (90+mm) in diameter. Might make for a nice LT2 lantern. Imagine having a camp lantern that would last 3 weeks between charges? I’m in.
Just wondering, how do LFP-using devices ‘estimate’ state of charge, since the voltage stays mostly flat when getting discharged?
Coulomb counting is an accurate way to get that. I think coulomb counting is also used on smartphones and, despite they use high voltage li-ion cells, in my experience they already reached consistently excellent accuracy with such chemistries. With LiFe it's just a further refinement, if anything (they already have it, pretty sure).
This would be excellent in my opinion, and could be shorter in proportion by staying the same height, would look great. Grooves for legs could be milled in the outside body between cells, it looks like their would be room for those. With the LTmini diffuser, it looks like DBSAR has figured out a way to have upward firing LEDs, so this would be a great evolution of the LT!
So in the end the cells are 46 by 80mm :
https://electrek.co/2020/09/22/tesla-4680-battery-cell-bigger-power-energy/
8 times the volume of 18650, 5 5.5 times of 21700.
More or less read the article and, unless I am missing something and as some people says in the above article's comments, the stuff is mostly click bait.
I remember long ago, when the 21700 cell boom, some people were senselessly arguing overheating problems with bigger cells and bla bla bla. Wrong presumptions, of course.
The only news here is that Tesla is working on reducing overall battery pack costs.
The new format is 46800, round cells with a diameter of 46mm and 80mm long. Doing the volume math, its almost 5½ times the volume of a 21700 and 8 times that of a 18650. The “5x energy” or “6x power” stuff is meaningless click bait.
There's really no point in wanting this inside flashlights, unless you really need or want another completely new format. If you do, let me advise you this may happen again, i.e. Tesla may announce a new larger cell format in the future along with some “new improvements”.
Found our BLF triple 21700 project; lantern/power bank or 3-7 LED whatever type you want. Takes the space of three 21700 with the density of five 21700’s. Potential of up to 27,500 mah.
:+1: :+1: That sounds AMAZING to me 
That sounds amazing to me as well. 40700 would be better but this definitely looks like it has a chance to kill 4x18650, 3x21700 and 4x21700 formats. If the cells become widely available it will kill them for sure.
In my opinion, a LiFePO version of this cell would be fantastic, in combination with low voltage leds (single or multiple in parallel) and a lineair driver (most leds are low enough voltage nowadays) you have high power, efficiency, runtime and safety combined.
Found this thread after finding out they are building the shorter range version of tesla in China with lfp.Exported some to Europe. Less energy density but lots of other advantages.
Another size comparison.
5.5x volume and 5x energy = 10% less energy density than a 21700 cell, which is about on par with a high capacity 18650.
Other than needing fewer cells for the same capacity/power output, there’s nothing special about this.
No higher energy density, no higher specific energy, no higher specific power.
I guess it would be a decent replacement for 3 or 4x18650 lights, since the space previously between the cells would no longer be unused, but the downside is that you can’t do 3s or 4s, only 1s.
It’d finally make a ‘single cell’ 90.2 light make sense
Specific product for a specific use case, the design of this battery needed to meet two goals, faster battery capacity production compared to previous cells and be part of a load bearing structural battery pack, obviously this form factor won’t become ubiquitous, we won’t see this in laptops, power tools, shavers…
One thing would be interesting to see trickle down to other cells, the tabless design should theoreticaly lower internal resistance wich is probably why the specific power is stated as slightly higher
I like my KR1 with 18350 and SBT90.2.
I would love it if not for a too deep reflector.
Well, you can, but it’d be like carrying a bazooka.
Not that that’s a bad thing.