Five times the capacity: Panasonic presents a powerful Tesla battery

Monday, October 25, 2021

five times the capacity
Panasonic introduces powerful Tesla battery

With the new battery prototype 4680 introduced by Panasonic in Tokyo, Tesla not only wants to reduce costs in the future, but also wants to increase production a hundredfold. However, not all cars get a power battery.

Panasonic unveiled a new battery prototype in Tokyo that will help Tesla further reduce the production cost of electric vehicles. The Japanese company has been supplying batteries for Tesla vehicles for more than a decade. In addition, the companies jointly operate Tesla’s so-called Gigafactory in the US state of Nevada. After years of losses, Panasonic is now said to be profitable with its battery supply. Another reason for the Japanese to deepen their association with the American electric car pioneer.

According to the head of the battery unit at Panasonic, Kazuo Tadanobu, the new cells were developed according to Tesla’s requirements. One unit should be commissioned by March 2022 for trial production of the so-called 4680 cells.

The performance data far exceed the currently established 1865 (Model S and X) and 2170 (Model 3 and Y). Their capacity is five times more. This would mean that less battery would be required to achieve the same level of performance. Basically, the 4680 should achieve only four times the performance of its predecessor cells. Tesla aims to halve the cost with a new type of battery. By 2030, the production of the American carmaker is to increase 100 times in this way.

It is quite possible that initially 4680 batteries will be used only for similarly expensive vehicles. This assumption is based on the fact that Tesla will continue to rely on lithium iron phosphate batteries made in China for the Model 3 and Model Y. CATL’s 95 percent batteries manufactured in China are cobalt-free and are considered cheaper and safer than Panasonic cells, which are made from a mixture of nickel, cobalt and aluminum (NCA).