Storedot adopts Tesla’s 4680 battery form factor

Israeli lithium-ion battery developer StoreDot has unveiled a fast-charging cylindrical battery cell in the style of Tesla’s 4680 battery cell that it claims can be fully charged in 10 minutes.

StoreDot’s own 4680 cylindrical silicon-dominant battery cell is the work of several years’ development which “was kicked off” at Warwick University in the United Kingdom in partnership with British oil & gas supermajor, BP – one of StoreDot’s own strategic partners.

StoreDot claims that its new 4680 format – which they say is “increasingly favoured by global car makers” – has been in development “for over three years.”

Whether or not StoreDot is aiming to head off any potential legal challenges over the design of its new battery cells is unclear, but the company’s official press release was quick to point out not only its three year-long development process but also the fact that the 4680 battery cell technology “is covered with five patents in the area of cell design and uses StoreDot’s continuous tab technology.”

“Achieving the goal of extreme fast charging a cylindrical cell in only 10 minutes has been on StoreDot’s technology roadmap from day one,” said Dr Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot’s CEO.

“After three years of vigorous development and testing, leveraging multiple vectors of our world class researches, I am hugely proud at the effective collaboration across our globe that enabled this important achievement.

“It’s highly significant that we can offer Electric Vehicle manufacturers the choice of cell formats, utilizing our XFC technology that will overcome the current barriers to EV ownership: range and charging anxiety.”

Tesla unveiled its own 4680 battery cell design back in mid-2020 at its highly touted Battery Day. The “4680” refers simply to the fact that the cylindrical battery has a diameter of 46mm and length of 80mm.

At its launch, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed that its new battery will deliver five times the energy density of battery packs, reduce cell design costs by 14%/kWh, add 16% range, and put out six times the power.

StoreDot is making similar claims about the increased efficiency and power of its 4680 battery cell design. Specifically, according to StoreDot, their cylindrical design will deliver a 50% reduction in charging time at the same cost, in both pouch and cylindrical forms.

Further, StoreDot’s continuous tab technology “increases throughput and addresses safety and performance issues typically associated with the hard case structure of cylindrical cells.”

The 4680 cylindrical cell format, according to StoreDot, required “unique chemistry adaptation” so as to offset issues such as greater internal pressures, gas release, and avoidance of potential leakage. Nevertheless, the company is confident that this is a “world-first application of silicon-dominant anode extreme fast charge cylindrical cells”.

Cylindrical cell samples are already being ramped up at production lines at EV Energy, StoreDot’s manufacturing partner in China, and both StoreDot’s extreme fast-charge (XFC) pouch and cylindrical forms are undergoing scale up process at EVE Energy and will be ready for mass production in 2024.

“We are pleased that our silicon-dominant XFC battery cell chemistry is adaptable and can be applied to various packaging formats, to suit changing market needs,” said Myersdorf.

“Both our cylinder and pouch cell form factors are designed to be safe, reliable and stable, and are expected to be produced at scale by 2024. We are in advanced discussions with a number of global automotive manufacturers, and we plan to supply them with various XFC cells, enabling a rapid transition to a zero-emissions electrified future.”