Tesla blamed for global shortage of cylindrical batteries

[Morgen]

[QUOTE]A new report by South Korea’s etnews points to Tesla as being the root cause for an ‘extreme’ global shortage of cylindrical batteries. Industry sources have reportedly blamed Tesla’s Gigafactory for consuming supplies of lithium ion batteries by partner Panasonic, as the company diverts its attention to address production challenges being faced at the $5 billion battery plant in Sparks, Nevada.

“It is impossible to purchase cylindrical batteries within Japan and we were even notified by Panasonic that they are not going to sell cylindrical batteries anymore.” said a representative for a Japanese battery distributor, according to etnews. “It has come to a point where we cannot even purchase products from Samsung and LG and even products from Samsung and LG that were produced in China.”
...
Tesla, in conjunction with partner Panasonic, continue to work through its battery production issues, which as of late, has more to do with challenges faced on the battery pack assembly line for Model 3 versus actual cell production.[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-gigafactory-global-battery-cell-shortage/[/url]

Not really sure it has too much to do with the Gigafactory since it will produce 2170s rather than the typical 18650s. Model S and X are also sticking with 18650s for now.

[nied]

I don't really know much about Tesla aside from the occasional post here and what my father tells me about his Teslas, but man, how great is it that they built a battery plant in a place named Sparks?

[rHebKo]

do they mean the little ones you can buy 34-packs of at the checkout line in the grocery store?

[butre]

[QUOTE=WrathOfCat;52954496]do they mean the little ones you can buy 34-packs of at the checkout line in the grocery store?[/QUOTE]

no, 18650s, the rechargable lipos you see in those portable phone chargers, vapes, laptops, and power tools

[sir whoopsalot]

[QUOTE=WrathOfCat;52954496]do they mean the little ones you can buy 34-packs of at the checkout line in the grocery store?[/QUOTE]

Yes, Tesla is using all those tiny AAA batteries in their cars. Definitely. For sure.

[nied]

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;52954537]Yes, Tesla is using all those tiny AAA batteries in their cars. Definitely. For sure.[/QUOTE]

what do you think all the extra space in the front is used for

if you could shake a tesla, you'd hear it rattle like a can full of pennies

[Van-man]

[QUOTE=TheFishyG;52954674]what do you think all the extra space in the front is used for

if you could shake a tesla, you'd hear it rattle like a can full of pennies[/QUOTE]

I'm now eagerly expecting someone to make a Tesla spoof of this video:

[video=youtube;s_8n2Qgguto]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_8n2Qgguto[/video]

[Nigademus]

[QUOTE=butre;52954503]no, 18650s, the rechargable lipos you see in those portable phone chargers, vapes, laptops, and power tools[/QUOTE]

18650s are li-ion not lithium polymer (Lopo), but yeah

[Van-man]

[QUOTE=Apache249;52958851]18650s are li-ion not lithium polymer (Lopo), but yeah[/QUOTE]

Rule of thumb:
If cylindrical and in a metal container, then it's a li-ion battery.
If it's thin and rectangular, and either in a flimsy plastic case or wrapped in what looks like tin foil, then it's a li-poly.

Also 18650 is basically the diameter and length combined, meaning 18 mm in diameter and 65 mm long

[Mr. Someguy]

Isn't lithium ion in very short supply? What are we going to do when it runs out? Just exit the smart phone era and go back to the 90's? :v:

[Van-man]

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;52959270]well, they're made out of lithium, nickel and cobal more or less - lithium and cobal are in very high demand for sure though, we need more mines.[/QUOTE]

That, and better recycling facilities.
Also Cobalt is a "conflict" mineral since many mines exists in countries without proper regulations.

And for the lazy:
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt#Batteries[/url]
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium#Production[/url]

[wewt!]

What's funny is the 18650 is the most commonly used battery in the vaping industry :v:

[Van-man]

[QUOTE=wewt!;52960073]What's funny is the 18650 is the most commonly used battery in the vaping industry :v:[/QUOTE]

Wanna know why? because you can salvage between 1 to 4 good cells from a dead laptop battery pack someone has thrown out anyway.
And the obvious higher energy density of rechargeable lithium batteries versus Ni-Mh.

[Sableye]

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;52959171]Isn't lithium ion in very short supply? What are we going to do when it runs out? Just exit the smart phone era and go back to the 90's? :v:[/QUOTE]

Lithium supply is good, there have been a lot of mines built recently and recycling has gotten more effective

Tin is something we have a problem with, there arent many high quality tin mines out there and its used for everything but we are getting better at recycling it and conserving it, surface mounted electronics today use much less solder than through hole components anyways.

Cobalt is the kicker, the vast majority of it is mined in the congo and the chinese hae a dangerous control over the mining companies there, turning a blind eye to slave and child labor and mixing that into the supply lines. Automakers and battery makers like tesla are working to reduce their usage of it, and recycling old batteries appears to be a big chunk of where future cobalt will come from as well.

Ultimately there are better chemistries out there that don't appear to need cobalt but they are still in development

[nikomo]

[QUOTE=Van-man;52961366]Wanna know why? because you can salvage between 1 to 4 good cells from a dead laptop battery pack someone has thrown out anyway.
And the obvious higher energy density of rechargeable lithium batteries versus Ni-Mh.[/QUOTE]

NiMh short circuit current is pathetic, you'd be waiting a while to get your vape on.