Tesla 4680 battery in big trouble, Nobel laureate cries foul

Tesla is proud of the 4680 battery, mass production has encountered a big problem! Even the Nobel Prize winner has confirmed.

The foreign media Reuters recently interviewed 12 battery experts learned that because of the "dry coating" process in the production of the battery cells can not be put into mass production, Tesla's 4680 cells have been in small production since the production of this year, and thus only a small number of Tesla's models can be equipped with 4680 batteries for delivery.

And because the production volume is so small, the 4680 battery should have played a significant role in reducing the cost of the battery was also discounted.

Tesla 4680 battery in big trouble, Nobel laureate cries out difficult

With a number of new designs such as lugless and silicon-based negative electrodes, the 4680 battery attracted close global attention with a series of strong performance indicators when it was released in 2020. Tesla claims that, when combined with CTC technology, it can increase the range of electric vehicles by 54% and reduce battery costs significantly.

At first glance, this was an explosive technological breakthrough in the electric car world, a star of tomorrow.

But after waiting for nearly 2 years, the Model Y with 4680 battery has been delivered to users in the United States, we found that the range of these models not only did not improve but also decreased, and even now even the mass production problem has not been solved ......

So what problems did the 4680 battery encounter in production? What technical innovations did it use and what improvements could it bring to Tesla? Reuters answers these key questions by speaking with 12 experts who understand Tesla's 4680 battery technology.

Dry coating technology difficult to break through, 4680 battery mass production hindered

In September 2020, Tesla officially unveiled the 4680 battery (cell) at the Battery Day event, which attracted global attention, and went into production this year with the Model Y, which is produced in Tesla's Texas factory in the United States.

One of the keys to mass production of the battery is the dry-coating process. However, experts have revealed that Tesla has encountered many challenges in advancing this process to mass production.

Stan Whittingham, co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery and one of the 2019 Nobel Prize winners, told the foreign press, "I think he (Musk) will eventually solve this problem, but not as fast as he plans, because the process still needs some time to be tested."