Tesla’s “Revolutionary” 4680 Has A Massive Problem
As it turns out, the 4680 is worse than Tesla’s old battery.
In September 2020, Musk announced Tesla’s next battery, the 4680. This gigantic cylindrical cell would be far cheaper, faster at charging, and way more energy dense than anything they had developed before. Two years on, and Tesla is now producing and installing 4680 batteries into their production cars, but the next-generation battery that Musk promised has failed to materialise. What’s worse, a recent teardown by the now-famous Sandy Munro shows the current 4680s are actually worse than Tesla’s old 2170 cells. So, what’s going on? And can Musk remedy this situation?
Let’s recap what the 4680 was promised to be and what Tesla is actually making today (a topic I already covered here). Musk originally declared the 4680 would have some breakthrough design features such as a tabless design, dry-coated electrodes, zero cobalt content (the mining of which has a significant environmental impact), a silicone anode, and a structural battery pack. What’s more, the much larger form factor would mean each pack would have far fewer individual cells, making them less expensive to assemble. All of these features combined would create a battery that is cheaper and more powerful than anything else on the market.
