Tesla Cybertruck to be powered by new 4680 Cyber cells with increased energy density for longer range on a charge
During its quarterly earnings call, Tesla disclosed that it will use a brand new and improved type of 4680 battery for the Cybertruck. Consisting of so-called "Cyber cells," the Cybertruck's 4680 battery pack will have higher energy density than what is placed now in the Model Y made in the same factory, tipped Tesla.
The new Cyber cells will be made in the multimillion Giga Texas battery section expansion where Tesla increased its 4680 production 80% compared to the previous quarter, producing its 10 millionth cell not long ago. The battery team in Texas managed to lower the "scrap bill by 40% quarter-over-quarter, and that resulted in a 25% reduction in cell COGS [cost of goods sold]," said Tesla's battery chief.
The Cybertruck's 4680 battery energy density increase has been achieved by painstaking "process and mechanical design optimization," they added, rather than some ingenious chemistry breakthrough. During the Cybertruck's production ramp later this year and in early 2024, Tesla expects to "be in a comfortable place on cost per cell" as larger economies of scale kick in.
When asked when will the Cybertruck's 4680 battery hit the reach the potential targeted during Tesla's 2020 Battery Day presentation, the automaker revealed that it is already there in terms of "4680 production system and the improvements we strove to achieve on equipment, factory density, capital cost and utility cost reduction."
Needless to say, the hardest part to hit the Battery Day 2020 target of 50% cell cost reduction - the dry cathode production method - is yet to be achieved on a mass scale, so Tesla takes whatever structural pack saving wins it can get.
Still, the fact it has developed a new 4680 cell for the Cybertruck with 10% higher energy density means that it can cram more miles of range on a charge in the same footprint. Alternatively, it can hit the Cybertruck's teased 100+ kWh battery pack capacity with less Cyber cells so the factory output will go a longer way.
This is important since one of the main bottlenecks in the mass Cybertruck assembly ramp will be the 4680 battery production and that is why Tesla is expanding its Giga Texas, Nevada, and Fremont cell manufacturing capacity all at once.
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