Why Tesla's New Battery Places Them At The Front Of The Pack For Years To Come

By Grick Sant

The new Tesla-Panasonic 6480 battery cell can make more powerful battery packs and/or reduce the size and weight of today’s EV battery packs. Also, the 4680 will outlast the car itself. It utilizes a solid electrolyte (aka “solid state”) and new anode/cathode chemistry resulting in a battery that Tesla claims will last a million miles. Based on previous cell production, Tesla TSLA has optimized 4680 production lines to build more-better-cheaper. The 4680 is also less expensive to manufacture, contains less cobalt and nickel which is increasingly difficult and expensive to source, and is less prone to combustion. The bottom line is that the Tesla battery pack based on the 4680 will keep Tesla in the lead for years to come. 

EV battery packs are made up of hundreds to thousands of battery cells. To provide sufficient range, most EVs have as many battery cells as the automotive chassis can handle. Increasing range in a passenger car requires more energy density, that is cramming more energy into the same amount of space and weight. While the 4680 cells themselves are larger than Tesla’s current battery cells, the 4680-based battery packs will require fewer cells and will provide about 25 percent more range. Not only will the new cells pack more energy into the same amount of space they will weigh less, and less weight translates to better mileage. The 4680 can scale up to more powerful battery packs that can power larger vehicles like the Tesla Semi.

Energy density is the holy grail for EVs. Battery manufacturers are making incremental progress to add a few miles of range with each model year, but they have not yet increased energy density to the point where they can squeeze significantly more range into the same amount of space. Though we hear of many battery technology “breakthroughs,” it will take years to translate these designs into production, and even more time to optimize production. Until then Tesla has a definite lead in energy density.

Though the 4680 cell is larger than the 18650, battery packs with fewer cells can have more range.  Together Tesla and Panasonic PCRFY have increased energy density more than sixfold over 18650-based battery packs found in most Tesla models. The 6480 (64mm x 80mm) contains five times the amount of energy as the 2170 (21mm x 70mm) which in turn contains 50 percent more energy than the 18650 (18mm x 65mm). Therefore the 4680 provides more than six times the energy of the 18650 as shown in figure 2. The 18650 is possibly the most ubiquitous Lithium-Ion battery cell which you will find inside everything from toys to power tools to Tesla EVs.

The 18650 cell is still used in most Tesla vehicles due to limited manufacturing capacity in the face of geometrically increasing demand. Some newer Tesla models use the 2170, but as 4680 manufacturing capacity comes online this cell will most likely first show up in Tesla Semis and Cybertrucks. As capacity catches up with demand the 6480 will probably replace the 18650 and the 2170 cells in future Tesla models. Tesla, who manufactures their own Panasonic cells under license is already producing the 4680 capacity and is currently rolling out production lines in Gigafactories worldwide. Unless other battery manufacturers can match this progress, Tesla will retain leadership in energy density for at least a few years.