Tesla's 4680 Battery Breakthrough: The Good, the Bad, and What It Means For You

Last night Tesla made a very big announcement about its new 4680 battery production record. I thought it was not bad and still think it's a great progress and a key achievement for Tesla in the battery sphere. But I heard some great comments from you under my earlier report and wanted to prepare this follow up report because there are things, which I think are very important for you to know in order to put things about Tesla's 4680 battery cell production in perspective.

So what is good and bad about it? But first, let me in one sentence remind you that last night Tesla, the world's leading electric vehicle manufacturer, has reportedly produced 868,000 of its latest 4680 battery cells in the last 7 days.

It is good news that Tesla has been able to ramp up production of its 4680 batteries. Sadly, it is far later than their original plans back in 2020, and according to Torque News EV contributor Dean Mcmanis "the final batteries do not have the silicon in the anode, or dry electrode material in the cathode."

But the breakthrough for the 4680 is being able to use the Maxwell technology dry electrode material in the anode, which not only makes the batteries far less toxic to produce, but it eventually will allow them to be made faster and cheaper than NCM counterparts. And potentially, they also provide longer life, taking that advantage away from LFP batteries. So even though the 4680 batteries are not all that was promised, or hinted at today, they do show great promise over time, and will probably reach their full potential before rival battery technologies like solid state are used in EVs.

Also, this is an ideal time from Tesla to introduce cost efficiencies if the economy is in fact going into a recession.

Another point that you need to know is that Tesla producing 868,000 of its latest 4680 battery cells in a week is about 4.5 GWh/year. Some people say, this is still a pretty small production by today's standards. What do you say?

Anyway, the 868,000 4680 battery cells produced in the last 7 days is an impressive feat for Tesla and a sign of the company's increasing production capacity.

It is clear that Tesla is continuing to push the boundaries of battery technology and production capabilities and the recent number of 868,000 4680 battery cells produced in the last 7 days is a testament to that. With Tesla's ambitious production goals, it is likely that the company will continue to make advancements in battery technology and production in the years to come.

By the way, also see how Tesla threw shade on Giga Shanghai's production rumors in a report on Torque News Youtube channel.

Armen Hareyan is the founder and the Editor in Chief of Torque News. He founded TorqueNews.com in 2010, which since then has been publishing expert news and analysis about the automotive industry. He can be reached at Torque News Twitter, Facebok, Linkedin and Youtube.