Earlier, Tesla's official tweet once again caused a hot discussion, the content is that Tesla officially released a group photo of employees at the entrance of the California factory, and accompanied by an article celebrating the successful production of a million new 4680 batteries in the California factory. For a time, this new battery technology launched by Tesla and Panasonic cooperation plan as early as 2020 once caused everyone to discuss, many riders think that this new battery pack that Tesla has been advocating for a long time, just change the soup without changing the medicine, especially Tesla's promotional materials, exaggerated sentences and words do not cover up the fact that it is only another cost cut. Of course, when this matter came to the mouth of the "big cannon brother" old Peng in the office, it seemed to be a bit heinous.
"This Tesla really doesn't want to face, the No. 5 battery is replaced by the No. 1 battery to blow itself into the sky" As soon as I heard the sound, Lao Peng shook behind my back again.
"This time it is really not a simple change of shape, there are still changes in technology"
"Change? 5 times the volume becomes the previous one, and then boasts that the new battery capacity is 5 times the previous one? The battery is bigger and saves the material of the battery pack, right? ”
"It's not so simple, the new battery uses electrodeless ear technology, and the previous 2170 is still different"
In fact, people who hold the idea of Old Peng are by no means a minority, Tesla will replace the previous 2170 battery with a 4650 battery, in the eyes of many people, it is simply to replace the "No. 5 battery" with the "No. 1 battery". However, such a statement is not too wrong, the so-called 2170 and 4650 is originally a battery appearance standard, 2170 means a lithium battery with a diameter of 21mm and a height of 70, strictly speaking, this specification should be called 21700, and the last 0 is the meaning of cylindrical lithium batteries. Of course, this specification was proposed by Sony in the early years, and everyone agreed to use such a name. That year, Sony launched the first power lithium battery 18650, which is a 18mm diameter and height 65mm cylindrical lithium battery, which was proposed by this appearance standard at that time, in fact, Sony in order to reduce production costs.
So, really just a change of style, Elon Musk came out to brag again? Obviously not, the core technology of this new battery is the polar ear design, of course, in fact, this design is called a full polar ear is more appropriate, because the 4680 battery uses the electrode end through the coated conductive material to make it directly connected to the outside of the battery, forming a full polar ear mode. The biggest benefit of this is to improve the problem of battery heating, because the battery designed in this way does not have a centralized hot spot, and the heating of the battery is better controlled by uniform temperature. This design also improves the fast charging capacity of the battery, theoretically it can be 15 minutes full of 80% of the design power.
On the other hand, due to the electrodeless ear design this time, it is possible to realize CTC (Cell to Chassis) technology, and the biggest feature of CTC technology is to eliminate the module and packaging process, and integrate the battery cell directly into the car chassis to achieve a higher degree of integration. This is also what Elon Musk values most, reducing the cost of module packaging. Compared with traditional battery packs, CTC can increase the volume utilization rate by 15%-20%, reduce the number of parts by 40%, increase production efficiency by 50% and reduce the manufacturing cost of power batteries. In addition to Tesla, NINGDE Times, BYD, LG and other large battery companies at home and abroad have launched their own solutions for CTC.
Of course, in addition to the electrodeless ear and CTC technology, 4680 also has an improvement, that is, the cathode material is replaced by expensive graphene to a more inexpensive silicon-based material, and the embedding of silicon for lithium is 9 times that of graphite, which also has an improving effect on the performance of rapid battery charging and discharging. Of course, the use of graphene as the negative electrode of the battery technology here is not what we often call graphene battery technology, graphene battery is the use of graphene material to make battery cells of the separator material, the current process problems there is no way to large-scale industrial production.
Back to the performance of the new battery that Tesla announced to the outside world, the battery capacity of the 4680 battery is indeed 5 times that of the 2170, but its volume is also 5.8 times that of the 2170 battery, but due to the CTC solution, the overall battery capacity has also increased by 16%. At the same time, what is more important for Tesla is the improvement of multiple technologies, which can reduce costs. This will make Tesla's models after the replacement of 4680 batteries more competitive in the market, and it is foreseeable that another group of car owners will be dissatisfied with the price reduction of the model in the future.
"What's different, always thinking about the method to save costs, and finally the backhand is to cut a wave of leeks"
"It is not necessary to cut leeks or not, but it is also true that the temperature of the new battery is more stable and the filling and discharging speed is faster."
"Anyway, I will not buy Tesla, change the soup and do not change the medicine"
"Haha, this electrodeless ear battery technology domestic manufacturers are following up, it is estimated that other brands behind this battery is also this kind of battery"
Write at the end:
A technological innovation will either lead to more robust performance or significantly reduce costs while maintaining the same performance. The update of the 4680 battery seems to take care of both. But the progress of materials science can be said to be non-linear, and perhaps the next day someone will find a new type of material that breaks through the limitations of existing technology, so that the performance can be greatly improved. Tesla itself is actually a time when everyone thinks that it uses its technological leadership to open up the gap in performance with other brands, but it uses technology to become a "sharp blade in the hands of a butcher" to suppress the price of the opponent. I only hope that the next time Tesla prices dive, the previous owners will not be hurt again.