Found this intriguing article, written by Chris Randall and presented on Electrive.com…
Tesla Semi and Cybertruck dependent on 4680 cells
If you’ve read my posts here for a bit, you’ll likely know I’m a fan of electric vehicles and Tesla in particular.
Mind you, I don’t feel like I’m a “slave” to Tesla and their product but let’s face facts: At least at this point in time and even if you feel Elon Musk, the head of the company, is a troublesome (to put it mildly) figure, you’ll have to admit there is no other car company that even approaches what Tesla is doing with regards to the electric car market.
I have a Model 3 and I love the damn thing to death. It’s the best car I’ve driven/had since I began driving waaaaay back in 1981 or 82, and I’m certain I’ll never again buy an ICE vehicle for myself.
Having said that, there are times when it gets frustrating being an EV fan.
The fact is that even the cheapest Tesla model is still pretty expensive, though they have managed to get the prices within a stone’s throw of the more “average” ICE vehicles. The range isn’t quite as large as having an ICE vehicle, certainly, but again its not all that much behind. Finally, it does take a little more time to fully charge up your vehicle, though Tesla has done a terrific job IMHO with their Superchargers, which allow a refill within 20 or so minutes, depending on how much of a charge you need.
It may be a longer wait than an ICE car, but the only reason to use a Supercharger, at least for me, is when I’m doing long trips so when it gets to the point where I need to charge, I can manage the 20 or so minutes and use them for a bathroom break and/or to get food. Otherwise, I do all my charging from the convenience of my home and its cheap compared to gas.
The other thing which is keeping the EV revolution from becoming much more robust is what is mentioned in the article: Batteries.
The 4680 cells are the new Tesla batteries which will be made by Tesla (their previous batteries were supplied by other companies as well as Tesla built) and supposedly they are much better/longer lasting and quicker charging batteries versus the old model.
But, they do require the proper infrastructure to be built and doing so certainly takes time.
While each day seems to bring something new to the EV market (not just from Tesla) I suspect next year will be an important one.
If Tesla manages to get their battery production fully revved up, there is literally nothing stopping them from pushing out a ton of vehicles to the masses. The more sold, the cheaper, one imagines, and we may all move away from the ICE vehicles we’re using now.
Two new models are noted in the article, the Cybertruck and the Semi, which require more batteries. But if they are finally put into production by late this year and can be manufactured fairly quickly by the next, one wonders what will happen then.
If batteries are plentiful, I suspect we’ll see/hear about a very cheap Tesla car. It will probably be a smaller vehicle, likely one more designed for the European market, but the article notes that they have vans in their sights as well.
Interesting times!