CEO OneD Battery Sciences, Inc. (HQ Palo Alto, Silicon Valley + subs in Moses Lake WA and Munich Germany)
The 4680 format is quite interesting, with unique advantages over prismatic and pouch formats, but it is not easy to design and to produce. LG ES and Panasonic are also getting ready to ramp up commercial production of 46XX cells. Each cell today has stores approximately 26 Ah or 96 Wh with a mean operating voltage of 3.7V with nickel rich cathode (varies with models). To put things into perspective, 100 millions cells assuming 100 Wh per cell is 10,000,000,000 Wh = 10 GWh. If each battery pack has a capacity 100 kWh (for example), this is enough cells for 100,000 EV. Thus, it takes 1000 cells per EV and 1 billion cells per 1 M EV. Achieving factory yield of > 90% is critical to profitability. Assuming a price of $80 per kWh at the cell level, each 100 kWh battery pack cost $8000. A factory with 40 GWh output must produce 400 million cells, at $8 per cell (more than 10 cells per second) and $3.2B annual output value at full capacity. This is a difficult operating target and business case when optimum yield and factory utilization must be maintained to achieve profitability. Safety is also critical, because recalls can cost many billions. This is why so few companies can actually be profitable and qualify as EV-scale supplier.
We just keep going! Team 4680 is working hard and ramping fast! https://lnkd.in/gU6gy_Md
what is the benchmark of production yield in cell industry today. Does any cell company achieve more than 90% yield or still in range of 80 to 85%? Does 100% automation really helps in achieving the yield >90% ?
Estimated wh/kg now in production? Wasn't it in the 244 to 296 range? Exceeding Panasonic 2170 wh/kg?