On December 29, a foreign netizen, Joe Tegtmeyer, used a drone to photograph the Texas Gigafactory complex when he found a Model Y body unloaded from a trailer. Curiously, the model Y's body has no floor system, only an empty shell.
The car's flooring system may be assigned to other components, that is, the vehicles tesla delivers to the Texas Gigafactory for testing may all use battery packs with structural designs. Xiao Lei learned that at last year's Battery Day event, Tesla not only launched a 4680 battery, but also announced a structural battery pack built around the new battery. Although the company is relatively low-key, from the pictures exposed by netizens, the Model Y with the new battery structure should come soon.
Tesla's structural battery pack may be the world's first real "CTC battery", simply put, it is to remove the concept of battery module and whole package, directly use the vehicle chassis as the upper and lower covers of the battery, and combine the power battery and chassis into one. This new design reduces the number of parts and the overall mass of the battery pack, increasing the range of electric vehicles on the one hand, and simplifying the production process and processes of the vehicle on the other hand.
It is worth mentioning that if this new structure can achieve mass production, the battery capacity of the Model Y may exceed 100 kWh.
According to the company, the purpose of structural batteries is to strengthen the body and chassis of the vehicle, while increasing the range and reducing production costs, Elon Musk once compared the structural battery to the fuel tank inside the wings of an aircraft. Structural batteries should be used first in model Y and then rolled out to other automotive products.
Xiao Lei also reported before that the 4680 battery pack has greater advantages in battery life, safety, production costs and other aspects than the current ternary lithium battery. However, as the use time increases, the battery will always age and need to be replaced.
Modular batteries, although less powerful than structural, have the advantage of being replaceable and not affecting other components. Since the structural battery pack is integrated with the vehicle chassis, if the battery needs to be replaced later, does it mean that the entire chassis must be replaced? Tesla car to change a battery will be tens of thousands of yuan, if the entire chassis is changed, its cost is not able to buy a car.
Of course, Xiao Lei believes that Tesla should be ready for relevant maintenance measures and preparations, if the battery is broken to replace the entire chassis, I believe that no one is willing to buy Tesla's electric car.