Tesla continues the ramp-up of its lithium-ion battery cell production at the Giga Texas factory, reaching another significant milestone.
During the last week, the plant produced enough 4680-type cylindrical battery cells for over 1,000 Tesla Cybertruck pickups according to the recent info: "Produced over 1k Cybertrucks’ worth of 4680 cells at Giga Texas last week!"
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4680 battery cells
Tesla's 4680-type cylindrical battery cells (a diameter of 46 mm and height of 80 mm) were initially used in one of the Model Y versions (in Texas) and currently are used in the Cybertruck. It's believed that at a later point Tesla will start to use the new format also in other models.
The company does not reveal the exact number of cells, but we can estimate the production rate. The Tesla Cybertruck battery pack is estimated to have about 123 kilowatt-hours of battery capacity. 1,000+ packs would be 123+ MWh/week or over 6 GWh per year.
A single battery pack likely has about 1,360 individual cells (estimate), which would mean that the production rate is at roughly 1.4 million units a week (compared to 868,000 per week as of December 2022).
While the battery cell output is high enough to produce over 1,000 Tesla Cybertrucks per week or over 4,000 per month, production of the vehicles is lower (a few hundred per week, we believe).
Earlier this year Tesla said that production of the 4680-type batteries is ahead of the Tesla Cybertruck production (the 4680-powered Model Y is no longer in production) and that battery cells will not be a bottleneck.
The company intends to maintain a surplus of battery cells in relation to vehicle production.
It will be very interesting to see the progress later this year. At 4,000 Tesla Cybertruck per month (hypothetically), the company should be able to beat Ford F-150 Lightning sales (about 2,500 per month so far in 2024).
However, let's remember that there will also be the Range Extender option for the Tesla Cybertruck, with an estimated 47 kWh of additional capacity (170 kWh total). Some reports say that a quarter of buyers opt for the Range Extender, which will require more batteries.
