Model S sedan and Model X crossover will receive a larger battery, according to the announcement from Tesla Motors, last month. Although this is an improvement, people were not as elated as it was expected.
Critics said that the engineers from Tesla are supposed to switch their focus on the Model 3 sedan, which is expected to go on sale in the last period of the next year. They believe that the electric cars with longer range are admirable, but it should not be Tesla’s primary goal.
Are those two things in opposition to each other? What if the enhancement of the Model 3 led to the battery pack that is used in the Model X P100D and Model S P100D? Are these two versions prime users of the specific battery technology that will develop in great measure before it is installed in the Model 3?
A post published on Electrek three weeks ago has something to say about these 100D batteries. They call them “a test bed for Tesla’s third-generation battery-pack technology.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated:”The cell is the same [as in previous versions]. But the module and pack architecture is changed significantly in order to achieve adequate cooling of the cells in a more energy dense pack and to make sure we don’t have cell to cell combustion propagation.”
The form factor of the 100D packs will be the same as we have seen in Model S. Moreover, Tesla and their business associate Panasonic refined the modified version of a standard 18650 lithium-ion, which is still widely in use.
Tesla’s engineers managed to cope with problems by repositioning some of the parts inside the battery. Because of that, the battery is only heavier by 4%, but energy capacity increased by 11%.
However, Tusk stated that the existing form of the battery alongside the usage of the modern cells allows 100kwh and that it is the limit of energy capacity.
They hope that the package will remain the same so that a new battery may be integrated into the Model S in years to come.
According to the Tesla’s chief technology officer JB Straubel, the development of the contemporary battery internals is essential.
The large factory in Nevada is the place they will manufacture completely new cells and module architecture.
JB Straubel said:” It is a pretty big change on the battery module and pack technology. It’s a complete redo of the cooling system, which is quite unique to Tesla and that we have been improving on for many years. This new pack is the next version of that.”
The new 2170 cells will be 70mm high with the 21mm diameter, comparing to the current cells which are 65mm high with 18mm diameter. Although these changes seem insignificant new cells will hold 46% more volume.
