The Real Reason Tesla Developed The 4680 Battery.. 

A major improvement the 4680 brings that seems overlooked and ignored way too often is the change from using graphite to silicon for the anode. This is huge, it drastically reduced material cost, improve energy density and longevity of the cell itself

Tesla bought Maxwell technologies and adopted their Patented Dry Electrode * production technology. In addition to the integrated continuous anode/cathode tabs, the improved design allows for non-stop battery production faster than bullets from a machine gun. The 5x reduction of internal resistance reduces thermal heating, allows for increased acceleration, and reduced charge time with increased safety. While others fumble around with solving production problems with solid state battery technology, Tesla will ramp vehicle production to 5 million a year or more. * correction (a conducting medium)

"though those companies only build like one car a day" lol, got 'em

First time in years I've noticed the electron flow in the cells being clearly and completely explained. Thank you!

Correction: they are not 1865 batteries. They are 18650 batteries. You can’t leave off the “0” because that tells you the shape of the battery. The “0” means that the battery is round and not some other shape. It’s actually very important to know the shape of the battery.

I think you forgot that it will charge faster than the 2170 battery because of the reduced resistance of the tabless design. This will allow Tesla to sustain a higher charging rate for a longer time.

It isn't the distance an electron has to travel, but the electrical resistance incurred by the length of the conductor. Electrons moving through a conductor is called "drift" and it would take a single electron, in a DC current of 10-amps, about 130 hours to travel one meter through a wire.

Glad to see someone in the Tesla fan community taking the time to actually understand the concepts they've been opining about for a year.

Just wanted to say ... AGAIN ... lol, thanks for being such a great information source. You really try, put in the effort and don't simple regurgitate pre-released data mindlessly. Or give long drawn out speals of what most everyone already knows. It is a pleasure to watch your posts and i am honored to 👍, share etc. Keep up the great work, honesty, integrity.... it will serve you well.

its funny how many times you mentioned the word "Tesla" and you mentioned "Panasonic" just one time lol Panasonic is literally behind the invention the science the manufacturing of the 4680 Battery Panasonic even has a restricted area inside the Gigafactory that is not accessible to non Panasonic workers . Panasonic is responsible for the battery cells production line and its a major investor in the factory itself Tesla is responsible for the assembly of cars its how tings work in business i need your science so i can make my product and you get a portion of the sales according to the contract between us this is false Reference now when you talk about battery technology at least give the people a more accurate information and give the original inventor the citation they deserve nice video by the way

It's a great video but it's so off-putting to hear the final number cut off. For example, calling an 18650 as an 1865... I've literally never heard someone referring to batteries in this way.

A couple of advantages of the 4680 that were not mentioned. First all that copper tabs also act as a great heat transport connecting the copper sheets and giving them a dual function. Also since the electrons need to travel a shorter distance the battery has a lower resistence leading to a slight increase in efficiency and more importantly less heat. So this battery will tolerate being driven hard for longer periods of time and more importantly it will handle hard charging better.

Well done but I don’t see credit in description for Dave Jones (EEVBlog) shown multiple times in the video.

I have to safely assume Tesla has a team working behind the scenes working on solid state batteries and keeping it quiet until a breakthrough is made, not saying it will happen, but they have to have weighed their options and realized it is at least worth pursuing, just in case. Just me?

Very interesting video. Please turn off the silly graphic things that pop up randomly on the edge of the video. They are VERY distracting!

Jeff sees himself being congratulated where Elon sees himself working 24/7.

Solid State batteries and Fusion are the two technologies that might be 8 years off for the next 80 years.

the cost of production is what makes a 4680 so promising. all the other stuff is great, but the game changing part is gonna be the cost of production, because the maxwell technologies purchase has allowed them to reduce the factory footprint dramatically, since there is no need for all the drying setup with the dry electrode technology they have developed, which also greatly reduces the time it takes. the "tabless" design and some of the other stuff is cool and all, but the part that makes it a game changer and the reason why it will be very difficult to surpass in the future, is because of the mass production advantages it currently has over existing tech, or in the case of future tech, it already has established mass production at a great cost.

You have done well to highlight the major benefits of the 4680. When I saw the design on 1'st battery day, my jaw dropped. Oh heavens - why did no-one think of this method 100 years ago? But simple physics tells us that the 4680 electrode design ensures an enormous advantage in charging and discharging heating losses due to its intrinsically lower ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance). SO COOL. The design has little effect until you stress a cell towards its maximum current flow. Then it ROCKS.

Imagine a flashlight with 3 of those batteries, 1 week of light 🤣

Good video overall, but I think your explanation near the end, saying that a leaking electrolyte is what is causing battery fires, is wrong. As far as I know, the danger is that an internal conducting "bridge", grows between the anode and the cathode (much like stalactites and stalagmites can grow together in underground caves). Once such a connection/bridge is formed the battery short circuits and all the energy is released in a hot, violent manner. And that is what is causing a batteri fire.

you completely missed the MOST important factor of 4680 cells. dry application of lithium. 2170 & 1865 cells use a process where lithium is dissolved in a solvent- then sprayed on the strip. after that- they pass through ovens where they are slowly dried. this is the largest bottle neck of making lithium batteries. very few will remember this: but tesla acquired maxwell technologies FOR THIS REASON. to say that dry application speeds up the construction... would be A HUGE understatement. but? that's not the most impressive point of the 4680. not even close. remember dendrites? those pesky little crystals that grow from positive to negative through the lithium... and begin to limit the cell's ability to charge? dendrites begin growing shortly after the cell is put into service: and do not stop, even if the cell isn't used. this sets a finite 'shelf life' for lithium batteries. what maxwell discovered shortly after discovering HOW to do dry application- was that the current wet application method is what 'kick starts' the dendrite growth- in fact- it is almost entirely the REASON for it. removing that method? removes dendrites. thus the term- "million mile battery". THEY WEREN'T KIDDING. the acquisition of maxwell happened- and then that fun bit of fact... was never spoken of again. not even at the 4680 reveal. my guess is, even though lab testing has projected this result- tesla wants to just wait until they have real cells in real cars with more than 12 or 14 years of age & charging before tipping their hat. but make no mistake- IT WILL HAPPEN. it's the REASON tesla acquired maxwell. I'll guarantee you.. .that in a tesla lab- there are 4680 cells that are being rigorously cycled. and somewhere around the 10 or 12 year mark- during a new reveal or investor day- elon will announce THAT little gem of information. when that happens? you're going to see tesla stock 10x. a battery pack that doesn't degrade over time.... costs 50% less to make... and takes up 90% less factory floor space while output increases by 10x ... just let that sink in a minute... fun side note: during an interview about the 4680 cells- they asked elon "how does the dry application work"... elon: "we're not going to reveal exactly how that secret sauce is made" (giggle).

Tesla should have named this battery the double D battery. Double D's are something everybody understands.

You just made my day: "A ton of complex science shit" is one I'll definately quote you on. Thanks for the in depth explanation!

It's not just bigger battery, it's tabless design, dry battery electrode, new cathode, new Anode, new cell vehicle integration. If that's not revolutionary than I don't know what that word means. You should take a look at the videos from Limiting Factor, he is excellent and goes into details.

One huge advantage of the 4680 battery that wasn’t mentioned is the speed at which they can be manufactured. They can be made so fast because of the tabless design and the specialized equipment that pumps them out that the cost to produce them goes way down. So they have a cheaper battery and they don’t need as many as many due to the increased power capacity. Win win. Another advantage is that the cooling of the battery will take place at the ends instead of the sides of the cells. They no longer have to locate cooling lines between the cells so the pack can be smaller and cool more efficiently. It’s not just the form factor that makes a difference. It’s the whole systems approach which reduces costs.

a non-technie here. Good presentation. Good pace of speaking. Informative. Thank you.

NO CAPTIOS!!! This cuts off us deaf people!

Very good explanation. Much better thermal management is another property of the tabless 4680 design: faster in and outflow of current with minimal resistive heating = more power output and faster charging.

While a small part of this video I think you were the first person to clearly explain that making a 4680 will take the same or less time and effort then making the current smaller cells. Game-changing.

When will they start making vehicles with the 4680 batteries? What vehicle will have them first?

I am starting to hate Ryan Reynolds for all of his commercials

I took a look at the other videos you have to offer and I was impressed enough to go ahead and subscribe. Also, I would like to say you did an incredible job of explaining a very complex subject in this video. Well done. Cheers

5:17 that EEV video was a dumpsterfire though. "I haven't actually watched the battery day presentation so let me explain the 4680 battery". That guy should know better, but he confidently shoots out unresearched info like a shotgun, some being correct but a lot missing the mark entirely.

A size and shape of battery nobody has tried to make before D CELL: Am I a joke to you?

I believe you must have missed SANDY MUNRO's interview with SANGDEEP SINGH. Awesome solid state battery prototype is made and extensively tested. Financing for the already designed production plant is assured. The battery was developed in association with VW.

Still room to learn more about battery tech. Being from Canada, I've been hesitant about how they perform in cold weather. The whole issue of battery thermals is cool (pun intended). Batteries need to be preheated before being charged if they're too cold and cooled if they're too hot. We'd all benefit from learning Tesla's 'lasagna' battery cell tech to accomplish this. You're the best guy to make it happen. New buyers (and some frustrated owners) would benefit greatly, helping to get even more EVs on the road.

Thank you! First time I understand what "tabless" means. (The guy with toilet paper helped a lot, GG) In fact, it's not so much as 'tabless' as 'tab all around the cell'

People do not understand, it's not only about energy density or efficiency when it comes to 4680 but ...SAFETY! Tab in cell is the reason you see burning Teslas! All that energy stored in cell has to travel through narrow stripe of metal that can heat up and short circuit BUT with tables cells this problem will go away because there will be much more surface to transfer the same amount of energy so compression, pressure of electrons would be much lesser making it almost impossible to short circuit and burn.

Great explanation on Tesla batteries! One problem with integrating the batteries into the Tesla frame though is when the car is in an accident, it becomes sooooo expensive to fix that insurance companies are just totally out the cars. As EVs continue to replace gas vehicles this creates a major problem as eventually insurance rates rise so high they become uninsurable and thus unaffordable. Battery packs need to be replaceable!

Lithium ion battery wasn't intended for this kind of ridiculous exploitation 😡 It was for Small portable devices 😭

Excellent video very well made. Also for your information Mercedes is already mass producing and using solid state batteries in their EV coach buses in EU with great success so far

Super time listening, great content, Tesla deserves more credit from our leaders

And as you say, solid state batteries are still basically theoretical so in the real world they don't exist. Also another point is that they are going to be quicker to charge, but information says that they discharge quicker which means more recharging sessions. Eon has said that his 4680s so far have offered the best cost, power load, and mileage of anything so far. And with his people constantly improving on design that by the time the solid state batteries may be workable that he estimates the next versions everything ion batteries will be close to if not equal to the solid state batteries as far as charging speed and will most likely still have more mileage. Thankfully he never stops pushing for something better than what he already has, this is the flaw that all of the legacy lawmakers never think about, or at least never admit to the public. They cannot catch up because he never stops to wait for them. Also the 4680 battery pack sets even lower in the frame which lowers the center of gravity of the car which makes for a ride like you were on rails and it is almost impossible to get the car to flip in an accident or skidding out of control. This is something that would be lost with the lighter batteries not configured as a low Center gravity structural part of the frame.

Excellent explanation! I would’ve loved to hear a little comparison on the LFP technology as well

Thanks for this! I watched a lot of vids on batteries and this was definitely one of the most insightful

I’m old enough to remember the pink Duracell rabbit.

FYI; Anode/Cathode is miss matched here as it's this type: Electrolytic cell: Converts electrical energy into chemical energy. Here, the anode is positive and cathode is the negative electrode. The reaction at the anode is oxidation and that at the cathode is reduction.

Amazing 👏

Extremely good explanation , keep it up👍💪💪💪🦇

I believe you neglected to say that the 46 mm diameter is not some sort of a random number. Why not >48 mm or 48 slows down charge and discharge rates. < 48 mm does not maximize power. I am a chemical engineer and did a lot of heat transfer modeling/designing of chemical reactors where addition and removal of heat is critical and must be optimized.

I was looking at building a custom battery for my car. I quickly found out the square batteries, although more expensive, put out more power. It was kinda cool seeing you confirm my findings lol

So impressed with everything Elon and all his teams are doing..thank you from a dad

one question about the integration of the battery pack into the structural body of the car. What happens in the future when the battery needs to be serviced? This seems to be limiting since a mechanic can not simply drop the battery pack and work on this. Is the plan to make these cards "disposable" in the future or cost prohibitive to replace after a decade of batter life has gotten to the point where the car's range is down to 150 miles? I am not saying that this will happen, "it just seems odd to put one of the parts which may be serviceable into a non accessible portion of the structure of the vehicle" - as one of my Tesla hating co-workers says.

Johnson Controls/ Optima Red Top spiral wound AGM lead acid battery follows a similar approach to reducing the internal resistance and increasing the Ampacity. Each internal spiral cell would have a top bus bar with several tabs (located about equal distance between each tab) welded/ soldered to the grid and a bottom bus bar with several tabs (located about equal distance between each tab) welded/ soldered to the plate. About 15 years ago I tested a large number of these automotive batteries (new in the box) and found about 1/3 of these failed open using a live-load carbon pile tester to verify they would pass the CCA rating. Midtronics EXP800 battery tester would generally show an 8% lower CCA rating for the batteries that would later fail the live load test. (Good for incipient failure detection.) Of the batteries that failed, more than 90% developed a hot spot at the same cell location. A couple of the failed batteries were cut open and the weld/ solder joints on the tabs to the bus bar were what failed. Live load tests would progress to about 10 or 12 seconds of the 15 second long test and fail like a house of cards. One tab joint would fail, so the remaining joints would have to share a heavier load, and then a second one would quickly fail and the remaining fail, all within a couple of seconds. The other problem these batteries had was that the grid and plate would be crimped and almost touching at the bottom of one of the six cells, causing excessive current leakage and also overheating when rapidly charging. Optima never acknowledged these problems. (Many D31 Yellow Top deep cycle Optima batteries I tested also failed catastrophically, but these were not cut open to verify if they failed at the same solder points.)

You missed 2 important point, first being the fact that the shorter electron distance travel means less heat loss, meaning more efficient, also meaning more efficient charging/discharging cycle. Second being less material for equivalent energy due to form factor, meaning cheaper to manufacturing, and also less part mean faster, thus again cheaper. So it’s bettre AND cheaper. In the end , price is what will bring affordable EV in the hand of the population. Even if SSB become easy to manufacture, that doesn’t mean cheap… I’ve yet to see price predictions on manufacturing SSB

The downside to this design is safety. The 4680 design eliminates the one or more central tabs on the positive end that acted as a fuse if the cell was ever shorted between terminals. Making the battery cell and the way it is welded into a pack part of the frame of the car is also a very bad idea. Sure these new batteries can deliver more power faster but that isn't what people need in a vehicle. People need reasonable acceleration, 400-500 mile range, a robust near bulletproof electronic control design that won't have any issues being in service for 20+years without needing updates, and a battery that won't go up in a blaze of glory while charging in the garage or during an accident.

Great video! I work in Kato Road and am amazed by the continued interest in these batteries even long after Battery Day. 🔋😁

I thought of this (7:30) when 18650 batteries were announced years ago!!! Elon call me

Might be really hard to replace the battery when it goes bad when it is the cars frame itself.

The tabs being rolled over on the ends allows for a higher output. Don’t forget that Tesla is going to save $$$$ by having less parts to assemble.

Really good video. Nothing new, but up to date and extremely well presented. (I thought I knew all this stuff - turns out I needed a tune-up. Thanks) . One aspect of the future Solid State Battery - yes it will be a huge step, surpassing even the 4680, but it won't in anyway render any existing (at least Tesla) battery technology obsolete (like the 2170s in my Model Y). Existing Teslas are very likely already 'million mile batteries' or close-enough (at 20k miles/year a million miles would take 50 years. (In 2050, ask my grandchildren how my 2020 Model Y is doing and if it looks like it's got another 20 years in it.) All this Tesla, EV, self-driving and battery tech stuff is indeed a lot of fun. This is truly is an amazing time. And if you own a bunch of Tesla stock....

Tesla will make a pile of money installing grid scale battery storage units using the new form factor.

The 4680 battery is huge!

Best video to date. Thank you sir.

"elon musk is smart enough not to pin his hopes on a technology that might come to market some day in the future"... what, like hyperloop or self-driving-ai in robotaxies? This is hilarious - the guy that is known for future thinking is being lauded for not looking to the future...

I don’t get it. The 4680 is 6x the output/power of the previous battery and 5x the size. What’s the improvement? 1x output is the improvement?

Excellent presentation. Thank you. Keep up the good work.

They worked out as many of the manufacturing issues as possible. I love it. Shutdown separators are super cool too. No welds on the cap also reduce probability of electrolyte leak

Terrific video! I have always wondered how this tabless thing worked. It was an easy explanation! Thanks! Question: Does this new pack structure mean they can't replace these batreries since that are part of the structure?

They always say the costs are going down. Why can’t most Americans afford these cars?

All I know is I love my Model S. Best car I've ever owned.

Good but missed reduced drying time gives 3production in a third of the space using continuous flow bottle style production....they bought the company. So 9x production in the same space.

Gr8 video Brother! I truly hope that Tesla begins using the 4680's in the LR variant of the Model 3 & Y ... I pray they DON'T partially full the battery compartment ... but go MAX full and deliver that full 30% immediately to the "2-wheel drive Model 3 LR" so it can provide USA drivers with ~350+mi range! If that happens, I will immediately add a Model 3 to my Model Y Garage!!! Then... if the Model Y LR gets 30%... I will ALSO replace my 330mi Model Y LR for the improved 430+mi LR. This will finally give me the no compromise vacation travel vehicle! If I keep my batt I can't wait ! Now I'll have real life range cars. Finally able to drive straight to my daughter without worry or side trips for "fuel"

At 9.00 minutes you apologise for the density of information; please don't!! This is the info-dump I needed, was very pleased to understand the improvements... hell, I feel confident I could explain it now to someone else!!! That it high-level YT, it's what we curious search for.

Nicely and logically presented. I have one small semantic quibble. Toward the end, you incorrectly contrasted lithium-Ion to solid state. Solid-state refers the spacer design. Lithium-ion refers to the chemistry. So future solid-state batteries might still be lithium-ion.

Great stuff brah. Love your litte graphics that makes the video more engaging to watch like the little X and squares along with the black dots on the white transparent wallpaper.

Not only does the 4680 have a much higher energy density. Will it being so much wider and barely increasing the length that five times amount of energy can get out from one into the other a lot quicker which keeps the battery heat way down. The heat comes from all of that energy having to go through a long skinny body so the quicker it can get out the cooler the battery stays and any cooling system in a car that runs these batteries doesn't have very much to do compared to the old style batteries. This is put it almost on the same platform of solid state batteries. And the people developing solid state batteries figuring about 5 years they will have it perfected, but by then Elon Musk will have gone another step or two and making his batteries even better than they are now which will basically negate the need for him to have solid state batteries. He never stops improving so why concentrate on two different lines if one is going to be good enough to handle the job.

Thank You for All that you are doing for World Peace.. Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. Namaste ..🙏🏻 😊 🌈 ✌ 🌷 ☮️ ❤️

How does 4680 compare with BYD's blade battery?

the 4680 has 5.5x the volume of the 2170, thus 5.5x the amount of energy stored. The 4680 pack has almost 2X the energy of the 2170 pack.

I really do appreciate your effort to clarify the 4680. Well done. As with any new technology, real world experience will reveal the actual extent of difference between the 4680 and 2170. The time to decide if the difference is worth a trade of my Model 3/2170 to a Model 3/4680 will come after some wheels to the pavement time for the 4680.

Good you fixed your previous video with this. One.

Excellent. How do you get your hands on the information?

That is so simple... How did no one else think of this...

If the new battery chemistry is LFP or similar, these new packs will be million milers.

Plaid : fastest accelerating car Toyota Supra : hold my beer , let me get turbo .sutu tu tuu ❤️

Can the tab-less design not be implemented into 18650 cells to then give those cells a 5x shorter electrical path too?

I understand 🙀 Well that's a first!!! Thank You very much for making this video for us.

I would like to point out a misconception in this video. Electrons don't travel the length of the battery. Or rather, they might, but you have the concept of electricity wrong. It is the charge and the energy that flow quickly. The electrons are carriers of the charge, they are not moving a lot though and in quite random directions. The length of the battery does contribute to the resistance of the battery (although not a lot).

Wouldn't the copper shingle design also work on the smaller battery's ? What would be the benefits ? Cheers

excellent video, youtube is full of "repeat from battery day" which sounds like a broken record

they should make them triangular in shape

Waiting for competition and solid state batteries to buy my first EV.

Best battery video yet,

Take a shot everytime he says 1865 instead of 18650 LOL

18 6 Fifty, not 18 65 your driving the flashlight heads crazy lol

If batteries wear out before the car, they are still too expensive. Bravo to the early adopters that are willing to pay this premium which funds further R&D.

It also makes the batteries impossible to service or replace. Plus eliminate the used battery market.

Might want to label the electrolyte in that graphic at about 12:50 . Otherwise it's a really good video!