All three packaging type has improved to the point where cooling and so aging is not an issue any more. To be more precise pouch cell has the best geometry for cooling as it is a rectangle prism shape so its thickness can be sized arbitrarily and can have a large cooling surface if needed. Porsche Taycan uses pouch cells from LG chem for example and has no cooling or performance problems. I will show the longevity below. Prismatic cells have no issues as well, BMW i3 from 2014 was able to take 2C charge which Tesla wasn't able to achieve until the Model 3 v3 charging.
Tesla cars aren't the safest on the road, but this isn't the topic now. (look up Mazda 3 on EuroNCAP and compare them)
I don't see everyone else struggling. BMW had no issues with their prismatic desing since 2014 for example. When you say efficiency. Most car makers have efficient batteries. That's not the showstopper. The efficiency of the pouch cells can easily be increased by using thicker copper layers. (the volume of the cylindrical cell would increase faster with thicker copper). Look at the internal resistance of the following batteries: pouch has lower energy density but the internal resistance is 40 times less compared to the cylindrical.The density and internal resistance can be scaled by design inverse proportionally.
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Source:
Accelerated Internal Resistance Measurements of Lithium-Ion Cells to Support Future End-of-Life Strategies for Electric Vehicles
You are refering to consumer electronics.
Automotive pouch/prismatic cells are sealed in a metalic box. There is no such issue.
Battery management is not rocket science. The researchers, or better, the cell testers give characteristic maps to the software developer who runs optimization algorythms to make the best use of the battery. It is the cell testing that has to be done correctly, software is easy.
Economics: Why does the Audi E-tron with ~93kWh battery cost less than the Model X with 100kWh yet is has more features and finer material? I'm not sure there is a big cost advantage to Tesla regarding the battery. VW claims it’s buying a $100 kWh battery. Cylindrical is cheaper to manufacture but not much fun to build the pack. Complicated cooling system.
(BMW i3 has a carbon fibre chassis and a factory with fully renewable energy so that hard to compare to Tesla)
As for energy density Jack Rickard measured 243 Wh/kg for the Model 3 cells. (I don't have the volumetric energy density for the Tesla cell though. If I use 24.25mm^3 for cell volume and 17.3Wh/cell, the volumetric density comes to 713 Wh/L) Compare this to CATL:
CATL’s NCM 523 battery cells (available since 2017):
Prismatic format: 235 Wh/kg and 570 Wh/L
Pouch format: 250 Wh/kg and 530 Wh/L
CATL’s NCM 811 battery cells, since 2019:
Prismatic format: 270 Wh/kg and 660 Wh/L
Pouch format: 300 Wh/kg and 700 Wh/L
CATL achieves 304 Wh/kg in new battery cells - PushEVs
Additionally the cobalt content of the NMC 811 is similar to Tesla's NCA.
One more thing: battery degradation.
Tesla batteries have the cycle life of around 800. NCM usually has much higher cycle life, around 1500.
This article says about Tesla:
"Well, according to lithium-ion battery cells studies, after 500-800 charging cycles and 100,000 to 150.000 miles a battery’s charging capacity drops to around 70%. "
Tesla Batteries Last Forever (Basically)
What is the charge/discharge cycle durability of Tesla's 2170 cells? - Quora
Compare that to CATL's 1800 charge cycle with the capacity drop to 80%:
CATL achieves 304 Wh/kg in new battery cells - PushEVs
