Elon Tweets GigaTexas Starting with 4680 Cell Model Y

by

Elon Musk confirms that Gigatexas will start producing 4680 battery cell Model Y later this year.

This means Tesla will have 4680 at reasonable scale and car ready in 2021. This is not the 12-18 month timeframe from the last earnings call. This means not 11-17 months from today but less than 7 months. This is also confirming Texas production later this year.

Texas will also have front and rear gigacasting.

The 4680 cells means the Model Y from Austin will have the structural battery. The front and rear casting will massively reduce cost and weight. There will also be weight reduction from the structural battery. These all combine for a lighter, lower cost and longer range vehicle.

Having large-scale 4680 cells will mean Tesla will have the battery supply for Cybertruck and Semi products at scale in 2022.

Panasonic should be making a test production line for 4680 battery cells by the end of 2021.

Elon’s tweet confirms what the Tesla community has been expecting for months.

SOURCES – Elon Musk, Electrified, Dr. Know-it-all Knows it all, Tesla Vision
Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com (Brian owns shares of Tesla)

21 thoughts on “Elon Tweets GigaTexas Starting with 4680 Cell Model Y”

  1. You do see a whole lot of hate for Musk floating around the net. A lot more than I would have predicted from "he gave the world electric cars and cheaper internet".

  2. Just because it is structural, does not mean it can't be replaced. That is just an assumption.
    The only thing that naturally follows is that you don't want to drive it with no battery or with some cells removed. Not terribly useful info…but…

  3. Has enemies in the fossil fuel industries, the electric utilizes, the car makers, the MIC, and China. Lots of people with lots of political pull.

  4. The sixth is to challenge too many rich and powerful interests at the same time and end up out-maneuvered politically, ending up with anti-trust suites or something that breaks his empire up.

  5. With all he doing, he is stretching himself thin. There are ways for him to fail. The first one is to die. The second is to overestimate the demand for EV and not sell enough EVs. The third is to hit production problems that he can't solve quickly. The fourth is issues with his EVs like fit and finish. The fifth is maintenance and reliability issues with his EVs.

  7. Five years? The technologically-ancient Samsung batteries in my Fiat 500e are like 2011 vintage (when they were developed) when it comes to innovation. There’s zero degradation six or so years in at 70K miles. ‘Modern’ lithium batteries absolutely outperform these old examples in every metric.

  9. With new the technology what are you thinking? 5 year batteries like the old Prius or Leaf? Come one, these new batteries and are worlds different.

  12. The problem with structural batteries is that they can't be replaced, and when they degrade in, say, five years, you might have to throw the entire car away.

    I hope I'm being unnecessarily pessimistic.

  13. Would very much like to see some complete cycles from pre-injection to part ejection,
    complete with part QC & inspection

  14. Hey Brian, will you be covering the new research out of Japan on a potential alternative to ventilators and ECMO, which might be usable for COVID-19 treatment? Called EVA, they want to pump oxygenated perfluorocarbon up people's bums, as the intestinal membrane is a potential alternative path for O2/CO2 exchange. They've completed initial mouse and pig studies and it looks viable as a ventilator supplement at least, though you are limited by surface area of the membrane itself. If you rough up the membrane a bit apparently you can just go straight to pumping in gaseous O2, but that doesn't seem practical in humans.

    Shades of the liquid air breathing apparatus from the movie "The Abyss".

  15. That front gigacasting is serious business.

    With the frame integration for the battery pack though, how much will that raise the cost of battery replacements though?

    Also, it looks like the semiconductor shortage is finally hitting Tesla as well, as a large number of "containment hold" vehicles are piling up at delivery centers, waiting for a specific part that can be installed in the field at the delivery center. The part itself hasn't been identified though.

  16. Temporary. Until the Austin plant is up and running, they’re making their money off the California plant. They can’t shut that down and retool for the changes until Austin comes online.

  18. It means they will likely have a usable battery at this form factor. It does not necessarily mean they they have achieved all the goals laid out in "battery day" for this battery. It may indeed take that addition year to meet all the goals laid out.
    I hope it is close though.
    The car itself sounds very good. With the reduced weight, performance and range is likely improved, even if the battery itself is only marginally better.

    They need to get the Cybertruck and the Semi out there. There is only so much demand for new cars. Pickups are the hottest selling vehicles, https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g36005989/best-selling-cars-2021/ and electric semis are capable of saving a lot of fuel over their life.

  19. No need to try to import a Model Y from Germany. Austin will produce both the best range and best ride available.

Comments are closed.