Tesla battery cell team at Giga Texas has hit a new production milestone, building its 50 millionth 4680 battery cell this week. This latest milestone gives us an insight into Tesla’s 4680 production ramp at Giga Texas.
Tesla began its battery production journey at Giga Texas by manufacturing 4680 cells for the Model Y. As to be expected, the ramp-up was gradual, but by the end of 2022, the factory achieved a significant milestone by producing 886,000 cells in just one week, enough for 1,000 Model Ys, each equipped with a 75kWh battery pack.
By June 2023, about six months later, Tesla surpassed 10 million 4680 cells built, indicating the company was producing about 351,000 of the battery cells per week.
As time went on, Tesla’s battery team at Giga Texas shifted their attention to the Cybertruck, bringing with it an all-new version of the 4680 cell with higher energy density for the electric pickup. Despite this change, Tesla was able to keep ramping 4680 production at a steady pace, hitting 20 million cells produced in October 2023, just before the launch of the Cybertruck.
The most recent update came in March, when Tesla revealed it built 1.4 million cells in seven days. Now the company has announced another major milestone.
In a post on X, Tesla says it produced its 50 million 4680 cell at Giga Texas this week.
Congrats 4680 Cell Manufacturing team on building their 50 millionth battery cell at Giga Texas! pic.twitter.com/zMhzAOghLi
— Tesla (@Tesla) June 5, 2024
Given the timing of the announcements of the 20 millionth and 50 millionth cells being produced, this indicates Giga Texas is producing, on average, about 126,000 cells per day, or about 3,780,000 per month.
Since Tesla is only currently using the 4680 cell in the Cybertruck, which needs about 1,360 of them for its 123kWh battery pack, this means the company is producing enough cells to build nearly 2,800 Cybertrucks per month, more than the factory is currently producing.
These rates of production supports statements made by the company during the Q1 2024 earnings call that 4680 cell production is not a bottleneck for the Cybertruck, and mean Tesla is steadily creating a stockpile it can use not only for the Cybertruck, but also for other vehicle programs that will also utilize the 4680 cell.
