The rate of good products is more than 90%. 4680 large cylindrical batteries accelerate mass production.

Break through the bottleneck of the rate of good products, the mass production of 4680 batteries is speeding up.

Recently, according to foreign media reports, Tesla CEO Musk said on the company's conference call that Tesla is producing Model Y with 4680 batteries at the Austin factory, and the first batch of vehicles with 4680 structural battery packs are likely to start delivery by the end of this quarter.

In other words, Tesla's first batch of models loaded with 4680 cylindrical batteries will be mass produced in the first quarter.

In 2020, Tesla officially announced the innovative product of 4680 cylindrical batteries on his "Battery Day". In 2021, Tesla was busy building his own production line and continued to improve the rate of good products, which increased from 20% at the beginning to 80% in October 2021.

Now, Tesla announced that the car is about to be loaded, behind which is 4680 cylindrical battery quality rate to a new level.

According to media reports, a recent report on the quality rate of Tesla's 4680 batteries was released: on January 22, a total of 6249 4680 cores produced by Tesla's California Fremont factory has reached an average of 92%. It is reported that the statistics are aimed at Tesla's 16 4680 production machines, with the highest rate of good products reaching 97% and the lowest 79%, which has basically reached the level of mass production.

There is no doubt that the 92% quality rate control is enough for large-scale manufacturing, so Tesla is confident enough to announce that a new car with 4680 batteries will be delivered by the end of the first quarter of this year.

4680 batteries will be released from 2020, and the quality rate will be continuously optimized in 2021 and delivered in the first quarter of 2022. Tesla's ability to improve the rate of quality and control is also evident.

At present, Tesla has a small number of trial-produced 4680 batteries at his factory in Fremont, with the goal of achieving 10GWh capacity.

In addition, Tesla's factory in Texas is also being laid out and plans to fully produce 4680 batteries. According to the plan, the annual production capacity of its Texas plant will be several times that of the Fremont plant, and its future capacity is expected to exceed that of 100GWh.

Tesla is not the only one eager to deliver 4680 batteries in mass production. The world's major battery companies all want to grab time at this stall and take the initiative in the large cylinder process.

A few days ago, a summary of the exchange of experts from a battery enterprise shows that by November 2021, the quality rate of 4680 batteries of Panasonic Battery and LG New Energy will be about 80-90 per cent, and that of two other companies will also reach about 80 per cent. according to the promotion plan, it is expected that the quality rate of the head companies that have invested heavily in the research and development of 4680 batteries will rise to more than 90 per cent by June this year.

And 90% of the overall yield will undoubtedly accelerate the mass production process of 4680 batteries.

Recently, Panasonic said it expected to start trial production of the 4680 battery in April, after which the company plans to conduct further trial production in Wakayama prefecture, near Panasonic's headquarters in Osaka, although the time and place of official mass production have not yet been determined. It is reported that Panasonic plans to invest 80 billion yen (4.4 billion yuan) to build a 4680 battery factory in Kawayama Prefecture, Japan, and start small batch production this year.

In addition, Panasonic said that it is currently studying various ways of mass production, and will also consider setting up factories in other countries such as the United States to expand the scale of mass production.

Panasonic CFO Zhongxin Kazuo said that if 4680 batteries can be delivered this year, priority will be given to Tesla.

South Korea's LG New Energy and Samsung SDI are also very positive in terms of 4680 batteries. According to the information disclosed by the two companies, both LG New Energy and Samsung SDI have completed the sample development of 4680 batteries and are also optimizing the quality of materials, production lines and other manufacturing issues.

Domestically, Ningde era, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Bick Battery, Honeycomb Energy and other battery companies are also actively layout. According to media reports on February 14, Ningde Times, Yiwei Lithium Energy and Bick batteries will mass produce 46 series of batteries this year.

In November last year, Yiwei LiNeng announced that Hubei Yiwei Power Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the company, signed a "contract" with the Management Committee of Jingmen High-tech Industrial Development Zone to invest in the construction of a large cylindrical battery production line and auxiliary facilities for 20GWh passenger cars in Jingmen High-tech Zone. According to the analysis of industry insiders, Yiwei LiNeng 20GWh large cylindrical battery project, mainly for 4680 and 4695 large cylindrical battery production lines, its 4680 cylindrical part of the production line is expected to be completed and put into production step by step.

In addition, it is reported that Bick Battery is also actively expanding the plant used to produce 4680 batteries.

It is worth mentioning that the 4680 battery will also drive the iterative and even innovative application of related lithium devices and materials.

It is reported that due to the 4680 battery from the technical level, looking for a single Wh cost down, and the pursuit of energy density, so silicon-carbon negative electrode, single-walled carbon tube, LiFSI and other high-performance materials are expected to be introduced quickly. At the same time, its shell manufacturing process, ear welding and other links may appear corresponding progress and changes, will also lead to the growth of related equipment demand.

According to industry data, only 9000 tons of silicon-based materials were shipped in China in 2020, with an industry penetration rate of only 2.5 per cent. According to the information disclosed by Tesla, the 4680 battery will be made of silicon anode material. Before the 4680 battery, Tesla Model 3's 21700 battery anode material had been added 5% silicon-based material.

As battery companies begin to accelerate the layout of 4680 large cylindrical batteries, there is a high probability that the use of silicon anode materials will be increased in order to increase the energy density. In turn, it will drive the market demand for silicon-based negative electrode, and the application of silicon negative electrode material will also usher in the pattern change.

In a survey conducted by investor institutions, Kodali revealed that the company currently has the production capacity of large cylindrical 4680 battery structures, and the company will provide customers with corresponding matching according to the actual needs of customers. Ningbo Jingda said on the investor interactive platform that the company's 4680 shell stamping production line has been delivered to customers. Battery China has learned from Yinghe Technology that the large cylindrical lithium battery equipment it delivered to a customer has the capacity to produce 4680 batteries; pilot Intelligence has also launched a series of 46 cylindrical battery solutions.

4680 single cell, compared with the existing 21700 cell, the single capacity is increased by 5 times and the output power is increased by 6 times; in the aspect of battery package, 4680 adopts module-less design, and the number of cells can reduce the difficulty of battery thermal management. In addition, the significant reduction in manufacturing costs and qualitative changes in manufacturing efficiency provide an excellent opportunity for cylindrical batteries to return to the electric car track. The successive catch-up of a number of battery manufacturers is bound to bring 4680 batteries to the market more quickly.