Posted on 10/10/2021 3:41:13 PM PDT by American Number 181269513
Tesla has unveiled its latest structural battery pack with 4680 cells during a Gigafactory Berlin tour ahead of the start of Model Y production at the new factory.
The start of production at Gigafactory Berlin is not just significant for Tesla’s growth in Europe, but it will also mark the launch of an important new version of the Model Y.
Tesla plans to build the new Model Y at Gigafactory Berlin on a whole new platform with its structural battery pack.
Earlier this year, Electrek obtained the first image of a Tesla structural battery pack prototype.
At its Battery Day event last year, Tesla not only unveiled its new 4680 battery cell but also a new battery architecture built around the new cell.
Inspired by the aerospace innovation of building airplane wings as fuel tanks instead of building the fuel tanks inside the wings, Tesla decided to build a battery pack that acts as a body structure, linking the front and rear underbody parts.
Currently, Tesla builds battery packs by combining cells into modules, which when put together form a battery pack. That battery pack is installed into the vehicle platform.
The difference with this new concept is that Tesla is not using modules and instead builds the entire battery pack as the structural platform of the vehicle, with the battery cells helping solidifying the platform as one big unit.
Using its expertise in giant casting parts, Tesla can connect a big single-piece rear and front underbody to this structural battery pack.
This new design reduces the number of parts, the total mass of the battery pack, and therefore enables Tesla to improve efficiency and ultimately the range of its electric vehicles.
Now at its Gigafest, a sort of country fair at Gigafactory Berlin, Tesla unveiled the latest version of the structural battery pack.
During a presentation, they said that they will be able to mount the sears directly on it and lower the body around, which is going to greatly simplify the assembly process.
All these manufacturing improvements put together are expected to significantly improve the cost and efficiency of the Model Y.
At the event, Musk said that Tesla is currently aiming to start Model Y production at Gigafactory Berlin next month.
Just love cars that run on AA batteries just like the toys they used to sell. Now they made the toys bigger.
I wonder if Tesla shouldn’t focus on power plants to juice up all these EVs?
Replacing them comes to mind...not easy.
But if they do have a 10 yr or so life span, batteries and the newer e cars will be much cheaper, so we’ll probably dispose of the whole thing. Of course, there will be no load on the environment when we do dispose of it.
Maybe Toy Story was a documentary, and we’re all actually toys living in some kid’s house. If so, recent events would suggest that kid is a psycho.
People tend to mock what they don't understand.
I am very impressed with how far Tesla has come in just a few years. They are already producing an affordable electric car that can go from zero to 60mph in under five seconds and with a practical range of over 200 miles. That's no "golf cart" and certainly no toy.
Now Tesla has a long way to go before I consider it as a replacement for my primary gas-powered automobile. But I would consider it for my secondary car that can be used for short commutes and shopping trips while recharging in my garage each night. I never would have stated that just five years ago.
That takes a lot of lithium mining. And later disposal. So great for the environment. And definitely not sustainable.
New power plants are being built but n the US
People tend to mock what they don’t understand.
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I understand it perfectly well and thanks for the attack very bracing!
Something in this made a real disconnect with me. You’re telling me that someone would buy a car as pricey as a Tesla just to make short commutes & trips to the grocery store with it? I’m retired now living on S.S. but in my best days when I was still working, something like this was a long ways from affordable.
Do they charge more quickly or catch fire more quickly?
EVs will be regional cars and that’s it. In the foreseeable future the battery technology does not work in low or high temps.
would you buy a 29K model 2 tesla once the full self driving is perfected? That would mean you could live unassisted even when you cannot drive anymore. I know lots of elderly that had to go into the retirement home because they could no longer to to the store, the doctor, etc.
That is a lot of batteries to pick Up after a violent crash.
Yes, most households these days have a second car. In many cases, that second car is primarily used for trips around town.
A Tesla would definitely meet the needs of the typical "second" car in a household. Many household can afford it too. There are now well over 10 million U.S. households with net worth over a million and you don't even need to be a millionaire to buy a Tesla. The basic Model 3 can be had for between $35K to $40K. That puts it into the same price category as America's best selling truck (Ford F-150).
Technology marches on whether we like it or not.
“There are now well over 10 million U.S. households with net worth over a million”
15,298,000 is the current estimate. But it can’t be done, it’s impossible to get ahead these days. Those people are all criminals or something.
Part of the confusion comes from the paradigm we have accepted for a century, without question. If one has no concept of collecting rain, then the idea of irrigation seems silly. Or think of preserving food, if that helps
Until very recently we could not store vast amounts of electrical power. It must be consumed or lost. So we designed for maximum capacity and send it where the demand is. If not used, the power is simply lost
Now we can store the power. Suddenly solar becomes more viable. Wind will likely never be economically viable; but hydroelectric, coal, nuclear, tidal and geothermal suddenly makes more sense.
Sounds great considering the last trip I had to take was 274 miles one way.
Well then a Tesla obviously would not meet your needs. You will need to stick to an internal combustion engine for those longer trips. In fact, just this weekend, I drove 200 miles each way from CT to NH in my Outback on a single tank of gas. Tesla would not be possible for that trip unless I recharged in NH. My wife who spent this weekend grocery shopping, going to church and visiting her mother would have been fine with the Tesla.
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