Lower production costs expected
Tesla: New battery prototype delivers five times the performance per cell
Tesla cars will soon come onto the market with a significantly more powerful battery (symbol photo)
© Tang Ke / Costfoto / Picture Alliance
Tesla cars will soon have a battery with five times the capacity per battery cell. The Japanese electronics company Panasonic has presented a corresponding prototype. The new battery should reduce the need for battery cells.
Panasonic introduced the new battery with the designation “4680” last Monday. At a round table discussion with media representatives, Panasonic managing director Kazuo Tadanobu showed the prototype, which is said to have a five times larger capacity than the battery systems currently used by Tesla. The news agency “Reuters” reports on it.
Panasonic is so far the only manufacturer of the battery with the 4680 cells (46 millimeters wide and 80 millimeters high). “We developed this out of the other party’s strong desire and we think it can only lead to stronger relationships,” said Tadanobu. The new battery should reduce the number of batteries needed to achieve the same performance. Tesla also wants to use it to reduce its production costs.
Panasonic is not Tesla’s sole battery manufacturer
In the spring, the Japanese electronics company said it had sold all of its Tesla shares and wanted to become more independent, Panasonic announced. After all, the Japanese wanted to take on other car manufacturers as customers. However, the two companies still jointly operate Tesla’s battery gigafactory in the US state of Nevada, and Panasonic has been developing batteries for Tesla for over a decade. The new battery prototype is a sign of further collaboration between Tesla and Panasonic.
Tadanobu also said on Monday that Panasonic does not want to develop cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP) for cheaper electric vehicles. LFP batteries are 95 percent made in China and are considered cheaper and safer than nickel-based batteries, but have a lower energy density and require more frequent recharging. The new “4680” battery from Panasonic consists of a nickel-cobal-aluminum mixture.
New battery is expected to be used in more expensive models
Since Tesla will continue to rely on LFP batteries, the electric car manufacturer will continue to cooperate with the Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology, among others, for some Model 3 and Model Y manufactured in China and for the Model 3 entry-level model in the United States.
The new battery from Panasonic, on the other hand, is only likely to be used in more expensive Tesla vehicles for the time being. Its production is scheduled to go into operation by March 2022. Tesla plans to increase production a hundredfold by 2030.