summary
With the in-depth understanding of the 4680, we can see that the structure of the 4680 is simpler than thought, in fact, the entire battery Pack design is subtracting, further simplifying, and improving the overall group rate.
This time Tesla's Texas factory opened, and the Gigafactory Cyber Rodeo showed a lot of things. Overall, the themes this time are factory opening, the new version of Model Y (integrated cast aluminum, CTC) and the 4680 battery factory and cyberTruck a year later. Of course, in the CTC era, in the meaning of Tesla, it is not only like an airplane to use the wing structure to make fuel tanks, but the entire factory produces cars in a more efficient way, and the battery cell factory is also one of them.
The layout change at the Texas plant may be more important than CTC. From the perspective of layout logic, TESLA has completely reconstructed the process of traditional automobile manufacturing. While traditional cars are the serial logic of stamping welding and finishing assembly, the new Plant in Texas has turned vehicle production into parallel + modular assembly based on the front and rear casting + CTC battery system.
This change not only brings about the reduction of production beats and costs, but also the revolution in the manufacturing logic of new energy vehicles, and the iteration of sub-modules and the integration of different platforms may be more suitable for the rapid iteration of new energy vehicle architectures in the future. The skateboard chassis concept began to gain attention last year, could TESLA's new factory be a better solution?
The emergence of new energy vehicles is not only the innovation of automotive powertrain, but the reconstruction of the entire automobile industry. All links in the entire industrial chain will be rethought because of the emergence of new energy vehicles. This is also the embodiment of TESLA's first principle.
Figure 1: Changes in the layout of Tesla's Texas factory
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Details of the 4680 battery
In the following figure, the overall structure of 4680 can be clearly seen, and the top water cooling plate above can also be revealed in the following figure.
Figure 2. Dissection of Tesla 4680 battery Pack
Tesla hoisted the battery of the 4680 like a sausage, allowing us to see the overall structure, a group of 34-35, and then hung in 24 columns, and there are also more classic water cooling plates in the middle for heat dissipation.
Figure 3 Tesla's 4680 battery minimum unit
▲The entire Pack of Figure 4.4680 is also hung up
In the overall display, it is similar to the opening of the Berlin factory before, and it is also a similar cross-sectional schematic.
▲Cross-sectional view of fig. 5.4680 battery
Combined with the following two figures, it can be understood that the structural body of the 4680 battery is directly involved in the mechanical bearing of the entire vehicle. However, the structural protection of the entire package is still carried around the stronger cast aluminum structured body, so the lower shell of the high-pressure cast aluminum can be integrated together.
Figure 6.4680 battery side buffer area design
▲Figure 7.4680 battery Pack vehicle docking part top view
On the factory side, some good PolarIzers of Coating are also displayed, which can have better cell manufacturing effects.
▲Figure 8:Display of battery cell pole pieces
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Progress of the 4680 battery
From Berlin to Texas, Tesla placed a lot of emphasis on the progress of 4680 cells and structured batteries. From the perspective of global layout, the 4680 battery cell research and development and trial production line is in Flynmont, produced in Austin, and the large-scale production of batteries, the yield rate has reached 90%, that is to say, it has met the requirements of large-scale production. In some good cases, the yield rate at the Austin, Texas plant was even 93 percent.
Figure 9:Tesla global factory
That is to say, at present, starting in April, Tesla's 4680 battery has just started mass production, this quarter mainly relies on the previous small-scale trial production of 1 million + 4680 cells in The Flint, in the Tesla performance conference call is about the trial production of Model Y, equivalent to about 1000 cars, most of the vehicles are used to do various experiments, only individual cars can be tried for special customers.
The overall 4680 production capacity began to gradually pull in April, and it can only come out in Q2 2022, and it can also be seen that in the Texas factory, the battery cell factory is part of the overall production.
Summary: With the in-depth understanding of the 4680, we can see that the structure of the 4680 is simpler than thought, in fact, the pack design of the entire battery is doing subtraction, further simplifying, and improving the overall group rate.