Tesla has been using high-energy nickel 4680 batteries for months

The Driven

Tesla has been putting prototypes of its energy dense, high nickel 4680 cells into vehicles for some months, Elon Musk said on Sunday.

Musk shared Tesla’s long-term goal of sustainable energy storage at Battery Day last week, including a plan to power energy-hungry vehicles such as its electric Semi and Cybertruck with high-nickel batteries in a wider, larger form factor.

Musk’s plan is to accelerate the path to sustainable energy ands transport by working out how to make high-energy cells with less or no cobalt, particularly for vehicles that require more energy, and it was met by enthusiasm by fans.

However, critics questioned why no physical example of the 4680 battery cell was shown by Musk at the event, and it was not entirely clear whether comments about a  strategy to use a “diversified cathode approach” meant it would use different cathodes in the larger cell format.

Musk has now clarified that Tesla will produce high-energy cathodes for the 4680 cell (at least for now), and that these batteries have been used in prototype form in vehicles for some months now.

The clarification came via a response to Tesla blogger “Whole Mars Catalog“, who asked if Tesla would make three different cathodes, or did the diversified approach refer to continuing to rely on battery cell partners such as CATL, Panasonic and LG Chem to supply other less dense cells.

“We’re only doing high energy nickel ourselves, at least for now. Also, maybe the presentation wasn’t clear that we’ve actually had our cells in packs driving cars for several months,” Musk said, adding that, “Prototypes are trivial, volume production is hard.”

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