Tesla Sees Austin Making More 4680 Cells Than Pilot Line This Year

Tesla’s Q2 2022 earnings call has brought updates regarding the production ramp of the new 4680-type battery cells at Gigafactory Texas.

Andrew Baglino, Tesla’s Senior VP of Powertrain and Energy Engineering, said during the call that the company will start production of the new 4680 cylindrical cells at Giga Texas this quarter and expects to ramp production by the end of the quarter. 

He added that Tesla hopes the battery factory in Austin can exceed the weekly output of Fremont’s Kato Road facility by the end of 2022. The pilot line in California is currently supplying 4680 batteries for Tesla Model Y production at Giga Texas.

In a reply to a question from an investor regarding the 4680 production ramp at Giga Texas, Baglino said Tesla expects the facility to make enough cells for more than 1,000 battery packs per week by year end.

“We are making progress on 4680, but right now, as Elon mentioned, we are leveraging supplier cells which we have in sufficient quantity to ramp Texas and Berlin. We expect to ramp til’ 4680 production exceeds 1k per week by the end of the year—hopefully before, well before.”

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Baglino added that Tesla unlocked major increases in 4680 production at the Kato facility in Q2, with output growing 35% month-over-month each month since March 2022. 

The valuable lessons learned from Fremont’s Kato pilot line are being applied to the 4680 production lines in Austin and Berlin. According to Baglino, the 4680 lines in the new plants are basically carbon copies of the one on Kato Road.

That said, there are some new ramp challenges to overcome in Texas and Berlin. Last quarter, Tesla fully installed 4680 cell equipment in Austin and produced its first sets of 4680 cells at the facility. More specifically, Baglino said Tesla commissioned “its first car sets of cells through the end of the line.“

Elon Musk said in his opening remarks to the Q2 2022 earnings call that Tesla has enough 2170 cells to support all vehicle production for the rest of the year. He also pointed out that 4680 cells will truly make a difference in 2023, not this year.

For more comments from Andrew Baglino and Elon Musk on Tesla’s 4680 battery cell production, check out the Q2 2022 earnings call webcast embedded at the top of this page.