Texas Model Y to be equipped with Structural Battery Pack, 4680 cells

CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas will be equipping its new Model Y SUVs with the company’s Structural Battery Pack and the 4680 battery cells everyone’s so excited about.

During the Q4 2021 Earnings Call, Musk confirmed that the Texas built Model Y would begin to be delivered once the vehicle receives an approval certification. As well, Tesla confirmed the construction of this Model Y loadout in late 2021, and is just awaiting final certification before pushing them out to customers.

Unfortunately it seems like the Berlin Gigafactory won’t be able to keep the same pace, planning on equipping the 2170 battery to begin with. It seems like the approval process in Germany didn’t quite move fast enough to meet the 2021 production start goal. The company has pushed back the initial production date to 2022, but no specific date is set for the beginning of production, as Tesla finishes the permit process.

The 4680 battery cell has been talked about quite a bit since its debut at the September 2020 “Battery Day” event. Built at the Kato Road pilot facility, the 4680 is reportedly a beast, boasting a huge increase in energy, range and raw power when compared to the previous 2170 cells in use today. However, even though the new 4680 cells are larger than the 2170s (Almost double the diameter and taller at 46mm and 80mm respectively), Tesla says that the “4680 cells are not a constraint to our 2022 volume plans”

What will definitely be in all the new Model Y vehicles however, is the Structural Battery Pack. This is a new battery architecture utilizing the developments behind modern airplane wings to reduce mass. Basically they redesign the structure to eliminate excess, allowing more space for the batteries themselves. This improves overall pack density, and makes the whole assembly more structurally secure.

Regardless of slowdowns across the pond, it seems like Tesla’s ready and prepped to get their new long-range battery tech out to eager drivers.