Tesla, as we know, is all after sustainable energy through electric vehicles, renewable energy generation and storage. At the heart of all its ingenuities are batteries, lots of batteries. Which is why Tesla has not wasted any time in kicking off mass production of lithium-ion battery cells at its Gigafactory in Nevada.
Tesla has teamed up with Panasonic to make the batteries which will be used in the former’s energy storage products and the Model 3 – a new all-electric sedan which will be sold in several markets including India.
The high performance cylindrical “2170 cell” was jointly designed by Tesla and Panasonic to offer good performance at the lowest production cost in an optimal form factor for both electric vehicles and energy products.
Production of 2170 cells for qualification started in December and now, production is kicking off on cells that will be used in Tesla’s Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 energy products. Model 3 cell production will follow in Q2 and by 2018, the Gigafactory will produce 35 GWh/year of lithium-ion battery cells which is nearly as much as the rest of the entire world’s battery production combined.
