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Mid-Nickel",103.5,99.73,3.78,13.78,6.78,[518,519,520,522,524,526,528,530,532,534,536,538],{"date":213,"value":512},{"date":216,"value":513},{"date":219,"value":521},99.19,{"date":222,"value":523},96.02,{"date":225,"value":525},98.23,{"date":467,"value":527},99.24,{"date":329,"value":529},101.29,{"date":339,"value":531},87.61,{"date":341,"value":533},92.44,{"date":344,"value":535},90.96,{"date":347,"value":537},92.24,{"date":350,"value":539},95.09,{"id":541,"uuid":542,"name":543,"slug":544,"full_slug":545,"content":546,"relatedArticles":665,"relatedVideos":666},112473795856686,"ba833b0a-12ef-4a59-8761-dd10b3bcf637","Tesla’s quest for battery cell superiority continues","teslas-quest-for-battery-cell-superiority-continues","article/teslas-quest-for-battery-cell-superiority-continues",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":553,"content":563,"excerpt":646,"featured":50,"reporter":647,"_editable":651,"component":652,"seo_title":543,"categories":653,"visibility":657,"author_company":49,"featured_image":658,"seo_description":646,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":663,"formattedArticleDate":664},"0aaa59ad-3c14-4fb2-9b39-01a5ad28ce20","2020-10-01 00:00",[550],{"slug":551,"name":552},"cells","Cells",[554],{"slug":555,"name":556,"content":557},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":558,"image":559,"bio":561,"linkedin":562},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":560},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":564,"content":565},"doc",[566,573,578,585,590,595,600,605,614,621,626,631,636,641],{"type":567,"attrs":568,"content":569},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[570],{"text":571,"type":572},"Tesla’s battery cell journey continues after Elon Musk confirmed Tesla’s new 4680 cylindrical cell format at Tesla’s Battery Day, also confirming that in-house production was already underway at the company’s pilot plant in Fremont.","text",{"type":567,"attrs":574,"content":575},{"textAlign":49},[576],{"text":577,"type":572},"This marks a significant point in Tesla’s battery strategy as it moves into direct battery production, having been supported to date by Panasonic for production in the USA and LG Chem and CATL in China.",{"type":567,"attrs":579,"content":580},{"textAlign":49},[581,583],{"text":582,"type":572},"Benchmark",{"text":584,"type":572}," had expected that Tesla would eventually move into its own lithium ion cell production, however, while Tesla is now producing its own cells it’s important to note that the company will continue to source from its existing partners.",{"type":567,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":572},"While Musk suggested that the new 4680 cells would use cobalt free cathodes, Benchmark expects the high nickel cathode technology to still use low levels of cobalt. Significant developments are still required before high nickel-manganese cathodes could be used without cobalt — which remains a critical material in the cell to provide stability — particularly in higher-nickel cathode chemistries.",{"type":567,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":572},"Previously there have also been thermal management issues for cells any larger than the 21700 format developed by Panasonic and Tesla. However, it seems that Tesla has been able to overcome this in its latest innovation.",{"type":567,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":572},"While the 4680 cell itself will offer a number of improvements at a cell level through its tab-less design and greater active material, the new cell will also provide improvements at a battery pack level with the prospect of moving towards ‘cell-to-pack’ design. Discussions surrounding $/ kWh are often focused at the cell level but these innovations – eliminating modules and sub-modules – will further reduce $/ kWh at a pack level.",{"type":567,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":572},"From a development perspective, Tesla’s timeline for mass-scale commercialisation of the 4680 is ambitious and may take longer than suggested. Having said that, Tesla is already producing 4680 cells at scale and is ramping up production at the Fremont pilot plant rapidly. In future, as it looks to scale up production further, it may also involve its battery manufacturing partners in the production of the new format cells.",{"type":567,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608,610,612],{"text":609,"type":572},"The scale of Tesla’s pilot plant, in which the 4680 is being produced, is also a significant step and illustrates the extent of its battery ambitions. The company outlined a timeline for Fremont to be at 10 GWh of production capacity within the year. To put that in context, if it were in production today it would be the 13",{"text":611,"type":572},"th ",{"text":613,"type":572},"largest battery factory in the world according to the Benchmark Minerals Lithium ion Battery Megafactory Assessment.",{"type":615,"attrs":616,"content":618},"heading",{"level":617,"textAlign":49},4,[619],{"text":620,"type":572},"Tesla’s cell journey",{"type":567,"attrs":622,"content":623},{"textAlign":49},[624],{"text":625,"type":572},"Tesla began its battery cell journey with standard, readily available 18650 cylindrical cells that were easy to source as they were typically used in laptop batteries. The company utilised the 18650 cell format for a number of years from the launch of the Tesla Roadster through to the Model X era.",{"type":567,"attrs":627,"content":628},{"textAlign":49},[629],{"text":630,"type":572},"Tesla is largely alone in its use of cylindrical cells and other auto companies have since looked at the use of more efficient pouch or prismatic cells. The company’s early decision to use 18650 cylindrical cells — which as noted above was based primarily on availability— have meant that it has maintained their use ever since due to the constraints of its battery pack technology.",{"type":567,"attrs":632,"content":633},{"textAlign":49},[634],{"text":635,"type":572},"Having developed scale and proven the concept of the Gigafactory, Tesla looked to achieve further efficiencies at a cell level. Limited to cylindrical cells, in collaboration with Panasonic, it looked to alter the size of the cells, which led to the innovation of the 21700.",{"type":567,"attrs":637,"content":638},{"textAlign":49},[639],{"text":640,"type":572},"Today, Panasonic and LG Chem will have optimised their production of 21700 cells, and as Musk noted they will continue to source cells from these existing relationships. Both of these suppliers have committed significant efforts to the production of 21700 cells, as such to change this format again in the short term would be a large undertaking.",{"type":567,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"textAlign":49},[644],{"text":645,"type":572},"The 4680 therefore represents Tesla’s first solo effort at battery cell production, but with its intention to achieve terawatt hour production by the end of the decade it will likely engage its battery partners as it ramps up production of the new cell format.","Tesla’s battery cell journey continues after Elon Musk confirmed Tesla’s new 4680 cylindrical cell format at Tesla’s Battery Day, also confirming that in-house production was already underway at the company’s pilot plant in Fremont. This marks a significant point in Tesla’s battery strategy as it moves into direct battery production, having been supported to date […]",[648],{"slug":555,"name":556,"content":649},{"job_title":558,"image":650,"bio":561,"linkedin":562},{"filename":560},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"0aaa59ad-3c14-4fb2-9b39-01a5ad28ce20\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[654],{"slug":655,"name":656},"batteries","Batteries","private",{"id":49,"alt":659,"name":659,"focus":659,"title":659,"source":659,"filename":660,"copyright":659,"fieldtype":661,"meta_data":662,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/343d7b107b/bm-tesla-new.png","asset",{"alt":659,"title":659,"source":659,"copyright":659},"Oct 01, 2020","1st October 2020",[],[],1781280293485]