Photo: Munro Live via Youtube
Sandy Munro is back from Italy to speed up the teardown process of the 4680 structural battery pack in the made-in-Texas Tesla Model Y. Following intensive work, the team finally took off the steel lid, but what they found inside puzzles Sandy.
The teardown firm Munro & Associates embarked on a quest to find out the secrets of Tesla’s structural battery, but the journey was more treacherous than they expected. After more than two weeks, the team managed to take the battery lid off, but they made little progress finding what’s inside. With veteran Sandy Munro back from vacation, there is again optimism that things will move faster toward the goal.
In another update to the battery saga, the team had nothing more to show than a pink polyurethane brick with an intriguing breather tube coming out from one side. Nevertheless, Sandy talked to other people who tried to do similar work on the 4680 battery pack and discovered a mysterious substance that could dissolve the pink foam. We’re still waiting for that part, which should reveal what’s inside the pack and how everything is arranged.
Until then, we can take Sandy’s remarks for good, and considering his experience in tearing down stuff, we assume he’s right. According to him, the battery cells are arranged in longitudinal banks, separated by steel stripes, each having its own Battery Management System. While the top of the pack is covered in steel, the bottom is made of aluminum and contains the battery’s vents.
The battery pack’s structural role is clear from how it is built, and its resilience made Sandy say, “it’s like a brick of cement.” As we’ve found out from an earlier video, the battery is not built with repairability in mind, so we figure Tesla expects it to endure at least for the life of the vehicle. This should not affect recycling, a fact that was later confirmed by Elon Musk.
“No problem to recycle the 4680 pack,” wrote Musk on Twitter after seeing the previous Munro Live video a week ago. “Just think of any battery pack as super high-grade ore – it is always better to start with high-grade ore than low grade!”
Other sources pointed out that the battery pack was designed for easy industrial-scale recycling, no matter how teardown-unfriendly it might seem. Also, the Munro team apparently started on the wrong foot by tearing off the top cover. Instead, the pack is designed to be accessed from the bottom, where a softer aluminum shell is used.
Considering how much effort Sandy and his team put into this teardown, everyone expects mind-boggling revelations from their work. While there’s no guarantee about that, we’re sure the team faces many difficult hours and days ahead, so stay tuned for more updates on this.
In another update to the battery saga, the team had nothing more to show than a pink polyurethane brick with an intriguing breather tube coming out from one side. Nevertheless, Sandy talked to other people who tried to do similar work on the 4680 battery pack and discovered a mysterious substance that could dissolve the pink foam. We’re still waiting for that part, which should reveal what’s inside the pack and how everything is arranged.
Until then, we can take Sandy’s remarks for good, and considering his experience in tearing down stuff, we assume he’s right. According to him, the battery cells are arranged in longitudinal banks, separated by steel stripes, each having its own Battery Management System. While the top of the pack is covered in steel, the bottom is made of aluminum and contains the battery’s vents.
The battery pack’s structural role is clear from how it is built, and its resilience made Sandy say, “it’s like a brick of cement.” As we’ve found out from an earlier video, the battery is not built with repairability in mind, so we figure Tesla expects it to endure at least for the life of the vehicle. This should not affect recycling, a fact that was later confirmed by Elon Musk.
“No problem to recycle the 4680 pack,” wrote Musk on Twitter after seeing the previous Munro Live video a week ago. “Just think of any battery pack as super high-grade ore – it is always better to start with high-grade ore than low grade!”
Other sources pointed out that the battery pack was designed for easy industrial-scale recycling, no matter how teardown-unfriendly it might seem. Also, the Munro team apparently started on the wrong foot by tearing off the top cover. Instead, the pack is designed to be accessed from the bottom, where a softer aluminum shell is used.
Considering how much effort Sandy and his team put into this teardown, everyone expects mind-boggling revelations from their work. While there’s no guarantee about that, we’re sure the team faces many difficult hours and days ahead, so stay tuned for more updates on this.
Google News