Tesla’s groundbreaking 4680 lithium cell turns out to be a Panasonic development
According to Japanese sources, the revolution in batteries, which Elon Musk talked about for a long time at the “bottom of the battery” in September, is an original development by Panasonic. More precisely, Panasonic, commissioned by Tesla, created a new form factor for a lithium cylindrical battery with a diameter of 4.6 cm and a length of 8 cm, or cell 4680. Tesla’s contribution to the development seems to have been the removal of the number 0 from the industry designation 46800.
What surprises in this news is not the fact that Panasonic has developed a new form factor for lithium batteries, but the unwillingness or inability of Tesla’s own battery department to engage in even such simple improvements as increasing the physical size of the cell. Panasonic will also be producing 4680 prototypes for Tesla in 2021. Tesla’s own production of 4680 elements is in the future. Perhaps this will happen at the company’s new factories near Berlin and in Texas.
For 4680 elements, Panasonic will deploy new lines in existing plants. The costs are estimated at tens of millions of US dollars. Panasonic will do this not out of a desire to help a partner with innovation, but out of an interest in becoming the main supplier of new parts for Tesla’s electric vehicles in the future. Market observers believe it will be difficult for Tesla to provide itself with new battery cells on its own.
