On August 4, Tesla CEO Musk said that Tesla may mass produce 4680 batteries by the end of this year. Netizen Jeffery L. asked Musk on Say.com, “When will 4680 battery production reach your initial production target and production rate (daily production) target?” Although the question is difficult to answer, Musk believes Tesla will achieve mass production of the 4680 battery by the end of 2022. He also said that Tesla has enough battery supply to produce 1.5 million cars this year.
We’re producing a good number of batteries every week, and I think we’ll start high-volume production by the end of this year,” Musk said. But it’s hard to predict how fast production will grow because a lot of new technology is being used. However, I am confident that we will achieve high productivity.”
“However, we may not be confident that we will achieve high production rates until the end of this year, but that will not affect our car production. We have a sufficient supply of batteries from our suppliers to produce 1.5 million cars this year. Therefore, the 4680 battery will not constrain our car production at this time, but it is very important for next year’s production.”
Photo credit: Tesla
During Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call, Drew Baglino, Tesla’s senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, spoke about a 35 percent year-over-year increase in 4680 cell production at Tesla’s Kato Road, California, facility.
Since March, 4680 cell production has been increasing as the Tesla team fully automated the power delivery of the dry anode-electrode tool, Baglino said, adding that this has led to a significant increase in production rates and improved yields.
He added that Tesla’s goal is to have the weekly production of 4680 cells at the Texas SuperFactory exceed that of the pilot line at Kato Road by the end of this year.
