Tesla's New 4680 Batteries Mean More Control of Cell Supply Chain

Bloomberg has a very interesting article on Tesla's 4680 batteries saying Tesla's new 4680 batteries mean more control of cell supply chain and that the first Model Y vehicles with 4680 batteries may be available by the end of March.

As Torque News has reported this morning Panasonic will expand its own plant in Wakayama, Japan, for the mass production of the new 4680 cells. A Panasonic spokesman confirmed to the Wall Street Journal in October 2021 that test production of the 4680 batteries should begin in March 2022. However, according to t3n , officials at the company declined to confirm the current report to Reuters: "We are investigating various options for mass production, including a test production line that we will set up this fiscal year," Reuters quoted a Panasonic spokesman as saying. "However, we have nothing further to announce at this time."

During the 3rd quarter Tesla earnings call, the automaker said that “the 4680 in-house cell project continues to progress. We are producing an increasing number of battery packs for testing purposes, and so far, the test results meet our current expectations.” That sounded promising, but it was clear that volume production remained a work in progress.

Last week, Drew Baglino, Tesla’s senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering and the company’s de facto chief technology officer, provided a significant update.

“So throughout 2021, we focused on growing cell supply alongside our in-house 4680 effort, to provide us flexibility and insurance as we attempt to grow as fast as possible,” Baglino said during the earnings call. “We are making meaningful progress of the ramp curve in Kato. We’re building 4680 structural packs every day, which are being assembled into vehicles in Texas. I was driving one yesterday and the day before. And we believe our first 4680 vehicles will be delivered this quarter.”

Tesla is making a serious effort to have more control over its battery supply chain. Tesla’s efforts to exert more control over its battery supply give the company a leg up over legacy automakers.

“Tesla remains the leader of the multi-decade secular transition to EVs,” said analyst Dan Levy of Credit Suisse in a note to clients Monday. “With less question around demand and much more question around supply of EVs, Tesla should be a key beneficiary — it has a product lead vs. others, and has taken the most holistic approach on EV supply.”

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This is Armen Hareyan from Torque News. Please follow us at https://twitter.com/torquenewsauto on Twitter and https://www.torquenews.com/ for daily automotive news.

Reference
Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-02/tesla-s-4680-batteries-mean-more-control-of-cell-supply-chain