New battery design for M3 coming

[adaptabl]

New design. It takes 420 D size alkaline batteries. No recharge issues as you just replace the batteries. HAHAHA

 

[lukex4]

Does anyone know if the new battery design has made it to production yet?

 

[ngogas]

There is always new design. Glad to see Tesla constantly improving the design to stay way ahead of other EV manufacturer.

 

[JeffK]

Does anyone know if the new battery design has made it to production yet?

Elon's previous guess was February so I'd expect it to be some time after that and will likely coincide with the SR model becoming available.

Besides being slightly lighter weight and lower cost to Tesla, I'm not sure there's much to wait for if you were waiting.

 

[jbcarioca]

New design. It takes 420 D size alkaline batteries. No recharge issues as you just replace the batteries. HAHAHA

Actually it was a Mercedes Benz:
New Mercedes

 

[lukex4]

Elon's previous guess was February so I'd expect it to be some time after that and will likely coincide with the SR model becoming available.

Besides being slightly lighter weight and lower cost to Tesla, I'm not sure there's much to wait for if you were waiting.

I understand that the new battery pack design will not make the Model 3 that much better but I relate it to the Model S "A-B-C-D" version of the pack. Musk is saying the new one is "better" and we also know Tesla will unveil the V3 Superchargers "soon" so I'm thinking it might offer a faster charging throught better cooling/efficiency. Anyway, I guess we'll see in the coming weeks.

 

[JeffK]

Musk is saying the new one is "better" and we also know Tesla will unveil the V3 Superchargers "soon" so I'm thinking it might offer a faster charging throught better cooling/efficiency. Anyway, I guess we'll see in the coming weeks.

This has to do more with cell chemistry which is staying the same. Model 3 already has larger cables to the battery so it was likely made with V3 in mind. I'm convinced the new pack is simply a reduction of materials to allow it to be lighter, cheaper, and possibly easier to manufacture. (until we hear otherwise at least)

 

[AndyH]

Actually the quote about the new battery module design was not directly linked to the $35k version of the Model 3 at all. All we know is that they are making the production line now and expect it to be in volume production early next year. It may be for SR, may be for LR, or may be for both.

I have suspected something about the pack design after seeing the Munro teardown where he said that bottom of the M3 frame was unnecessarily strong. Munro concluded that the M3 would behave the same in a crash with or without the battery pack. Original casing for M3 pack might be unnecessarily heavy. Tesla should be able to reduce materials used and make the pack less heavy without any concerns about safety. I think it's what they realised and are aiming to do.

Or maybe Munro was wrong in his assumptions.

 

[Vines]

I don't know if making the battery casing or the uni-body weaker is a great idea. I was wondering about exactly this and think it might have to do with the crazy level of safety built into this car. If the uni-body of the car or the case of the battery was made weaker, therefore relying on the other component to maintain integrity, then the crash behavior would be a lot different. I could see that potentially the whole battery deforming in a crash would increase the likely hood of a battery fire.