Everything You Need to Know About Tesla’s New 4680 Battery Cell

cleantechnica.com

12 points·Ninjaneered··4 comments

So what is the cell tab and how did they eliminate it? I haven't seen any explanation of the tab on the news articles covering battery day. Just a photo of a tab sticking out of a cell. Is it a terminal of the cell?

Good question, I haven't watched the Limiting Factor video posted above yet, but I did find this [1] on Ars Technica:

> For example, in a cylindrical battery, the cathode and anode are wound tightly around one another. In a conventional battery, a "tab" sticks out of each side of this roll—one connecting the coiled cathode sheet to one end of the cell, the other connecting the anode to the opposite end. Tesla says it has pioneered a new "tabless" internal structure that is not only less prone to overheating, but is also easier to manufacture. Eliminating the tabs means there's less need to start and stop the manufacturing process to make sure the tabs are properly positioned in each coil.

[1] https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/09/how-tesla-plans-to-make...

The Limiting Factor on YouTube has a really good video explaining the concept[1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcw3vA0gAMs

The volume ratio between the 2170 cell and the new 4680 cell is about 5.48

So the new cell is about five and a half times bigger.

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