Chinese manufacturer BAK Battery is the first to release 4680 cylindrical battery, which is far ahead of Tesla and LG Chem

On March 19, the domestic battery manufacturer BAK Battery took the lead in releasing the 4680 cylindrical battery, ahead of the progress of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla.

Li Dan, vice president of BAK Battery, revealed that the 4 series (46mm diameter battery products) are currently mainly customized, that is, joint development, and will be made into mass-produced standard products by the end of next year. Customers send samples.

According to statistics, before the mass production of 46mm (4680) batteries, most of the batteries on the market are 18mm (18650) and 21mm (21700).

It is understood that the 4680 of the BAK battery is currently rated at 25Ah, far exceeding the 3Ah of the 18650 battery. On this basis, the battery pack composed of 8,000 cells in the past now only needs 1,000 cells, which reduces the requirements for BMS to a certain extent.

As early as September 2020, Tesla proposed the 4680 battery concept on “Battery Day” and planned to mass-produce the battery in Berlin, Germany.

South Korea’s LG Chem’s LG Energy Solutions has also stated that it has begun research and development of 4680 batteries, and has now started testing the production line, which will start production in 2023. However, LG says it has made samples of the 4680 cells, but there are still “technical hurdles” to overcome before mass production.

BAK believes that from the perspective of industry research and development progress, the industry mass production of large cylindrical batteries is expected to start in 2023. Dr. Lin Jian, chief scientist of BAK Battery, said that BAK is cooperating with customers on the application development of next-generation cylindrical batteries and large cylindrical batteries with all tabs.

BAK Battery also said that compared with traditional small cylindrical batteries, large cylindrical batteries can effectively improve the overall space utilization of the battery system, reduce the use of structural parts and production processes, and reduce costs, while taking into account energy density, output power, and safety. and other performance.

Dr. Fan Wenguang, head of BAK battery cell research and development, said that the large cylindrical cell technology can push the optimal balance between energy density/cost and safety to a new position, on the premise of ensuring the safety of the entire battery pack , increase the size of the single cell, improve the space utilization rate, and improve the cruising range of the vehicle. At the same time, the use of large-sized cells can reduce the number of cells in the entire package and the number of corresponding structural components, thereby improving the weight and energy density, simplifying the BMS, and reducing the overall industrial cost of the battery pack. At the vehicle level, performance will be improved, costs will be reduced, and safety will be further improved, making it possible to truly achieve zero battery accidents.