LG’s 4680 Battery Production
Korean electronics company LG Energy Solutions will begin production of Tesla’s 4680 battery cell as early as August of this year, according to CEO Kim Dong-myeong.
Kim made the announcement at the Korea Battery Industry Association’s event for their Board of Directors on February 15th, in response to questions about the possibility of the company starting production at their Ochang factory in June or July this year.
The CEO clarified that the timeline could bounce around a little bit, but that it will be happening soon.
The plan currently is for production to begin in South Korea - where LG is based - and then include their new Arizona facility once it comes online in 2025, allowing the production base to be much closer to Tesla’s operations.
There was also talk of LG considering their location in Nanjing, China for another manufacturing run of Tesla’s largest battery cell - but while it would make a good deal of sense, there’s been no confirmation on that idea for the moment.
Aside from LG, Tesla is of course making good progress in their own efforts to build the 4680 cell in-house - with an expansion to their GigaNevada facility happening this year which will hopefully be adding four more assembly lines by the third quarter of 2024, according to the company’s recent call with their investors back in January.
And of course, Japanese battery-maker Panasonic is still helping to shore up Tesla’s battery supplies, and is not only expecting to start a new US-based factory of their own this year - but has also been steadily working on improvements to both the 4680 cell, and the 2170 cell that Tesla uses for the majority of their vehicles.
This boost in productivity comes at a time when Tesla needs it the most - ramping up production of their new Cybertruck, but also their Model Y which uses the same 4680 battery - and concerns about the multi-million cell numbers needed to keep ahead of the Cybertrucks production ramp alone has led to Tesla executives addressing this concern directly during investor meetings.
Keeping the supply-side high is key to maintaining a good pace, and if they get easier to make with even more efficiency, then the costs for these vehicles could improve as well - and with these extra partners, it doesn’t seem like Tesla needs to worry.