The 4680 battery pilot production line at the Tesla Fremont Kato Road plant has begun to increase hiring, Teslarati reported yesterday. The position includes a production assistant who does not need any experience, as well as a pilot production line assistant manager who requires rich experience.
It is reported that the pilot production line is expected to produce a sufficient number of 4680 batteries to supply Tesla Model S Plaid, Model X, the new Roadster sports car and other new models.
It is worth mentioning that Tesla announced at the end of July that the plant has completed the performance and life testing of 4680 batteries, and the production capacity is expected to reach 100GWh/ by the end of 2022. However, Musk admitted at the time that the 4680 battery encountered a bottleneck in mass production, that is, there was a problem with the positive rolling process.
The Teslarati article points out that the Fremont Kato Road factory is now expanding its recruitment scale, which also implies that Tesla has solved the mass production problem of 4680 batteries.
Battery factory competes for 4680 industry chain to benefit from many aspects.
As early as a year ago, Tesla released the 4680 battery, which has a six-fold increase in capacity, a 16% increase in mileage and a 14% reduction in cost per kilowatt-hour. Tesla also set up a pilot production line for it and used it in real car testing. However, the initial yield and the rate of increase in production capacity are not optimistic.
Last month, however, that changed: according to media reports, the yield of the pilot production line of 4680 batteries has increased to 70% and 80% from 20% last year.
Soon after, it was reported that Tesla had begun to look for the top 4680 cooperative manufacturers of cylindrical batteries in China, including Ningde Times, LG Chemical, Yiwei Lithium Energy, and so on. Although Yiwei LiNeng subsequently issued a clarification announcement that there was no cooperation talks, to some extent, the successive good news also confirmed what Teslarati speculated yesterday: the Tesla 4680 battery production is just around the corner.
Why is 4680 battery important? The most important point is that it increases the energy density and reduces the cost. Auto analyst Zhang Xiang said in an interview with Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that the advantage of Tesla's original 18650 battery is relatively weakening, and the gap with the new power of car building is also narrowing, so Tesla urgently needs new technology to stabilize his competitive position, and carrying 4680 batteries "will help Tesla's own sales growth."
Looking at the entire battery industry, Panasonic, LG Chemical, Samsung SDI, Yiwei Lithium Energy and Honeycomb Energy have also devoted themselves to 4680 research and development. The enrollment Securities report pointed out that as Tesla and other car companies have been equipped with 4680 large cylindrical batteries, the development of high-nickel batteries is expected to speed up, and the proportion of silicon-containing anode materials will also be improved. and its shell manufacturing process, pole ear welding and other links may appear corresponding progress and changes.
Specific to the industrial chain, on the one hand, Tianfeng Securities analyst Sun Xiaoya pointed out that 4680 batteries will bring the promotion of the full material system ASP, in which incremental logic is silicon-based negative electrodes, carbon nanotubes, LiFSI, China Baoan, Tiannai Technology, and Divine Materials have been laid out one after another.
