Tesla has released a new video with new images of its battery cell production in Fremont, California, as it seeks to hire more people to replicate the production lines at new factories in Germany and Texas.
Tesla 4680 battery cell
At its Battery Day in September 2020, Tesla unveiled its new 4680 battery cell and how it plans to manufacture the bigger and tabless cell itself – something the automaker hasn’t attempted to do before.
While Tesla has gotten involved in the development of new battery cells before, the automaker has always relied on suppliers, such as Panasonic, to produce the cells for its electric vehicles.
But in order to create a bigger cell format with more energy capacity and to reduce cost, Tesla had to design new manufacturing processes and rethink the production of battery cells.
When unveiling its new cells, Tesla claimed that it will boost energy density five-fold and power by six-fold, while reducing cost per kWh by roughly half.
Tesla battery production
At the event, Tesla confirmed that it is already producing the cells in low volume at a “pilot plant” in Fremont.
While it’s only a “pilot plant,” Tesla still aims to have an annual production capacity of 10 GWh at the facility, which would produce more cells than many battery factories around the world.
The automaker aims to achieve this production capacity by the end of the year and use its knowledge acquired on the line, which consists of many new manufacturing machines designed in-house by Tesla, to deploy much bigger battery-cell-production capacity at new factories.
As we previously reported, Gigafactory Berlin should be Tesla’s first site of full-fledged 4680 battery cell production.
Tesla is currently planning to deploy up to 250 GWh of battery-cell-production capacity at the factory.
Now Tesla is releasing new images of battery cell production at its pilot factory in Fremont:
With the new images, Tesla is promoting its hiring minisite for battery manufacturing, and it encourages people to apply for new jobs in both Berlin and Texas, where Tesla also plans to produce new battery cells.
The automaker writes:
To achieve the transition to sustainable energy, we must produce more affordable EVs and energy storage, while building factories faster and with far less investment. The key to this is terawatt-scale battery production and far more affordable battery cells.
Tesla is looking to hire in cell engineering, manufacturing, materials, equipment, and operations challenges, with the goal to create a “vertically integrated team.”
Instead of posting job listings, Tesla encourages people to submit their résumés directly through that minisite.
However, we previously reported on Tesla starting to list jobs for its first full-scale battery cell factory.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
