Tesla Asked Us To Speed Up Development Of 4680-Type Batteries

Panasonic CFO Hirokazu Umeda revealed this week that Tesla asked Panasonic to speed up the development of the new 4680-type cylindrical battery cells. The Japanese company is Tesla’s long-time lithium-ion battery cell supplier, which – as far as we know – is the only one that produced batteries for all Tesla EVs: 1865-type cylindrical cells for the original Roadster and Model S/Model X (including the refreshed versions) and 2170-type cylindrical cells for Model 3/Model Y. Since Tesla introduced another battery cell format – the 4680-type (about 5-times larger than 2170), Panasonic started development of the 4680-type at “Tesla’s request.” The prototype was shown in October 2021. In February, the company officially announced that will build two production lines at its Wakayama Factory in western Japan to manufacture 4680-type battery cells, starting in the fiscal year ending in…

Read more…