Tesla has converted to the production of next-gen 4680 battery cells for Cybertruck at Giga Texas. The new cell has 10% higher energy than the Model Y cell. The company plans to fully convert to building Cybertruck cells by the end of 2023, and launch four battery production lines at Giga Texas by mid-2024.
Tesla has several new areas of development that are of great interest to investors and specialists in several industries. One of these developments is the new 4680 battery cell. During the Q3 2023 Earnings Call, company management gave an update on this, revealing current progress and future plans.
According to management, the production of 4680 cells at Gigafactory Texas increased by 40% compared to the previous quarter. Notably, last week, Tesla announced the production of the 20 millionth cell on the first line of the new factory. The company celebrated doubling production just less than four months after reaching the 10 million mark. This further highlighted the company’s success in ramping up production. Tesla said the battery factory at Gigafactory Texas has now become its primary facility to produce 4680 battery cells.
Now the company has begun to pay especially close attention to the quality of the batteries produced. An excellent achievement was that scrap volumes decreased by 40% compared to the previous quarter. With higher volumes and higher yields, element costs improved sequentially month over month during the quarter. Tesla noted that there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve its steady-state goals, and this is a priority.
Company executives said production of the new Cybertruck cell, which has 10% higher energy than its Model Y cell, has begun on line two at Gigafactory Texas. This quarter, Tesla should convert to building 100% of Cybertruck cells. This will be done in order to simplify and focus the factory as the company ramps all four lines in Phase 1 over the next three quarters. Phase 2 of the 4680 facility in Texas is currently under construction. “The additional four lines incorporate further capital efficiencies over Phase 1, and our target is for them to start producing in late 2024,” said one of Tesla’s executives during the call.
In addition to the upgrades at the Texas Gigafactory, Tesla is also upgrading its battery line in Fremont, California. The company said it is now retooling the line at Kato Road to enable large-scale production of its next-generation cell design. In the long term, this line should be the launch pad for new cells that will be one generation ahead of those produced at other Tesla facilities. This line will allow for faster iteration and smoother implementation of new developments.
