Battery producers target larger cell technology

Several of the world's leading battery cell producers are targeting mass production of larger cells to increase energy density and cut down on raw material needs in the coming years.

On 24 June, the UK's flagship gigafactory Britishvolt laid out a roadmap to development of 4690 cells, which are 46mm in diameter and 90mm in height, becoming the latest of several cell makers to do so.

"This improves efficiency, reduces waste, lowers costs and makes us leaner and more agile. We can also tailor the length of the cell to suit specific applications," Britishvolt founder and chief executive Orral Nadjari said.

Until now, most cylindrical battery cells have been 2170 format, with a smaller diameter and height. The larger size of the cells helps with power density and is expected to be used in vehicles that need longer distances between charges and higher power output.

US electric vehicle (EV) producer Tesla unveiled it was working on a version of a larger cell in 2020, a 4680 format cell that it claimed could deliver six times the power and five times the energy density while reducing the cost of raw materials, including cobalt, lithium, nickel and manganese, in the overall battery pack.

"Giga Berlin-Brandenburg will be the first to use our new structural pack architecture, 4680 (world's most advanced cells, made on-site)," Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said on Twitter in December 2020, "Both front and rear body castings and advanced paint shop. Warning: with so much new technology, production timing is naturally harder to predict."

Tesla received its first outsourced 4680 samples from partner Panasonic earlier this month and is expecting to integrate them into its Model Y production lines in Austin, Texas, by 2023.

In Asia, established battery producers have already begun to work on scaling up large cell production lines. China's CATL, the world's largest battery cell producer, unveiled the Qilin battery, named after a famous mythical creature in China, or CTP 3.0 as its official name.

The battery pack uses a large 4680 cell format and CATL claims it can travel 1,000km on a single charge using a nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) or lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry. When it goes into production in 2023, it will be the most powerful mass production battery on the market.

"The CTP 3.0 battery can increase the energy density to 255Wh/kg for ternary battery systems, and 160Wh/kg for LFP battery systems," a company presentation said, "With the same chemical system and the same pack size, it can deliver 13pc more power than the 4680 battery, accomplishing an all-round improvement in range, fast-charging, safety, service life, efficiency and low-temperature performance."

South Korea's Samsung SDI is also testing 4680 battery cell technology, which it may offer to customers such as Stellantis, BMW and Volvo.

By Thomas Kavanagh

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.