Model 3 Battery Cell Production

[JeffK]

From Inside EV's back in May
I bet these employees will be glad to move on to other Model 3 projects.

"As of right now, battery modules for the Model 3 are reportedly hand built by some 150 Gigfactory employees. Sources say it takes close to 10 minutes to finish just one battery module for the Model 3.
Each battery module has 7 sections, so it’s clear this is a painfully slow process"
Tesla Invest $216 Million Into Model 3 Battery Line At Gigafactory

Cool that was May, but now they have automation...

 

[Swampgator]

It takes about 5 weeks to make a battery pack. 30 days of that is the curing time for the cells. After manufacturing, each cell gets charged and then literally gets stored in a temperature controlled giant room for 30 days.

That is the 18650 process. There is speculation that the new 2170's will not need curing time.

 

[JeffK]

Assuming the cells are already made (cured or not)... the major bottleneck in the past was putting cells into the pack modules. One of the goals for the gigafactory was to automate this.

 

[Cosmacelf]

That is the 18650 process. There is speculation that the new 2170's will not need curing time.

When I was on the gigafactory tour back in June last year, I saw the giant room where they will stack cells being cured. At the time, they had just installed the 20(?) foot tall racks that would hold the cell storage trays. They still had to install the robotic elevators that would put the cells onto and off the racks. There is little doubt in my mind that they still need the 30 day storage/cure time. Where did the speculation come from?

 

[Cosmacelf]

As per my previous post, here are the pics of the giant cell storage room. The second pic shows the cell tray they use to hold cells and the first and third pics are of the shelves/racks.