According to reports, Tesla has encountered problems in battery production at its gigafactory in Berlin, and is now moving its battery manufacturing equipment to Texas, USA.
For more than two years, Tesla has been striving to manufacture cylindrical batteries of the 4680 specification. Tesla is currently building batteries at its pilot factory in Fremont, California, and aims to achieve mass production of the 4680 battery at the Texas gigafactory by the end of the year. Previously, Tesla also planned to produce the 4680 battery at the Berlin gigafactory.
Now, a report from the German media Handelsblatt suggests that Tesla is suspending this plan in Berlin:
“Tesla will not start battery production at its German factory for the time being. There are other reasons for this, in addition to incentives to reduce energy costs and the encouraging new tax incentives worth billions of dollars in the United States. According to insiders, a crucial but highly complex production technology has suffered major delays.”
The new US electric vehicle tax credit policy encourages automakers to use locally produced batteries, and this measure also affects Tesla’s decision. In terms of technical details, Handelsblatt states that Tesla hopes to achieve large-scale production of “dried electrode coating,” a complex technology, first in the United States:
“Elon Musk hopes to continue building a battery factory in Brandenburg in the long term. But before that, Tesla must have control over the so-called dried electrode coating. According to five experts (two of whom are closely related to Tesla), the test system that uses this technology is currently running quite successfully, but has no experience in large-scale production.”
Tesla officials stated that they still have confidence in achieving mass production of the 4680 battery at the Texas gigafactory by the end of the year. If the previous rumors of cooperation between Tesla and BYD are true, it is very likely that BYD’s blade batteries will be used in the German market to meet the increased production.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.