The original “master plan” that Tesla CEO Elon Musk came up with several years ago included aggressively ramping up production of 4680-size lithium-ion batteries. As rumors regularly arise about problems with scaling their production, Tesla announced last week that recently released its 100 millionth cell of this type.
Image source: Tesla, X
In the photo illustrating this statement, Tesla on the social network X depicted the humanoid robot Optimus holding in its hand the “anniversary” 100 millionth battery cell of size 4680. According to sources familiar with the situation at the Tesla plant in Texas, such robots are, although The simplest operations in the production of battery cells of this type have not yet made a special contribution to their production.
One hundred million battery cells will be enough to produce approximately 100 thousand electric vehicles. Considering that Tesla expects to produce 1.8 million cars by the end of this year alone, the proportion of electric vehicles equipped with 4680-type cells is small. In addition to the American version of the Model Y crossover, Cybertruck electric pickups are equipped with such elements. The volume of their production, even in Tesla’s plans, will not exceed 250,000 units per year, so the company’s existing capabilities for producing cells of the 4680 type are more than enough for the production of pickup trucks. In the future, Tesla Semi electric trucks could switch to 4680 cells, but for now they use cells of size 2170, which are more traditional for the brand’s products.