What Cells Will Model 3 Use and How Many Will It Have?

[Patrick0101]

Elon Musk said that Model 3 will not use the same 18650 cells that the previous Tesla cars have used. This blog says they will use bigger cells and extrapolates that they will use less than half the number of cells of MS or MX.

Cars With Cords: Tesla Model 3 Will Have Half The Battery Cells Of Model S

 

[Johan]

There's no official word that the GF will make a bigger format than 18650 and chemistry is also not known. That they will probably eventually go to a 20% bigger cell is true, but extrapolating from that and saying the Model 3 will have bigger cells is a leap. We don't know that.

 

[JeffK]

That page has a couple of unit and vocabulary errors that make any person with a STEM background cringe. I understand what the page is trying to convey though.

Johan: we do know for a fact that the Model 3 cells will be different. Elon spoke specifically of cells for the model 3 and they might be 10% larger in every dimension. He said the gigafactory was being set up to make cells for the model 3. You wouldn't say something like that if you were going to use the same old 18650 cells

 

[Johan]

That page has a couple of unit and vocabulary errors that make any person with a STEM background cringe. I understand what the page is trying to convey though.

Johan: we do know for a fact that the Model 3 cells will be different. Elon spoke specifically of cells for the model 3 and they might be 10% larger in every dimension. He said the gigafactory was being set up to make cells for the model 3. You wouldn't say something like that if you were going to use the same old 18650 cells

When and where did he say this?

 

[Alketi]

When and where did he say this?

6:53 in this video

Musk talks about the forthcoming Gigafactory improvements to the chemistry and the larger cell size.

 

[Johan]

6:53 in this video

Musk talks about the forthcoming Gigafactory improvements to the chemistry and the larger cell size.

I heard them say this too, in 2012, and while I do believe they will have larger cells for the Model 3 my question is what new information has come out to support this belief further. I guess the answer is no new information has come out.

 

[Patrick0101]

That page has a couple of unit and vocabulary errors that make any person with a STEM background cringe. I understand what the page is trying to convey though.

What made you cringe?

 

[JeffK]

Looks like it's been edited. I can no longer find the two issues that were obvious.

I wish the math had been done a 10% increase in dimensions as that what was stated by Elon. Was there a source for the 20%? I can't wait to see what's actually going to be in the 3. They'd have to make sure they can still give the voltage necessary for Ludicrous mode (400V at 1500 amps).

 

[stopcrazypp]

I heard them say this too, in 2012, and while I do believe they will have larger cells for the Model 3 my question is what new information has come out to support this belief further. I guess the answer is no new information has come out.

Yeah, a statement in 2012 definitely is too stale to rely on as Tesla has made significant changes in their plans since then (for one, the schedule has changed completely recently).

The more recent Q2 2014 earnings call was where the 10% height and width was repeated by Straubel however:
Tesla Q2 Conference Call: Model X, Gigafactory Site, Improved Battery Chemistry + Model S Drivetrain Issues

However, that statement is approaching 2 years old also.

 

[JeffK]

I guess the question is if they've already been putting these in the Model S/X or if they were stating plans for cells the gigafactory would produce.