Tesla’s 4680 battery supply chain collapses as partner writes down deal by 99%

Redacted.

4680 was a mistake to begin with. [A rare case that Musk has admited a mistake](https://www.autoevolution.com/news/musk-admits-that-pursuing-the-dry-battery-electrode-process-in-4680-cells-was-a-mistake-260582.html)

So I guess Tesla no longer all needs all that table salt they were supposedly going to use in these?

But Elon said…

I still remember discussions about batteries 5 years ago, you'd get downvoted to oblivion if you dared to question 4680. Even better was when they announced that new batteries would have 500% more energy and people masturbated to it, without noticing that the volume was also bigger by almost 500%. So it was supposed to be a single digit improvement even if it worked.

This probably cancels the CT production line next year.

Just another hype story about Tesla that once drove up the stock price and is now being quietly buried. I can't even remember all the big news and innovations that have simply disappeared over the years.

This guy TSLAs.

18650 and 21700 cells are way more established and have higher production volume.

Yeah, the marketing worked great for Tesla. Turns out that specific production lines, trouble to cool down such high volume cells and the inability to use them on all models to cheapen out production took it's toll.

The way he turned Munro into a cult member always gets to me.

Optimus wasn't going to use this battery anyways

The interesting part in the article are all the promises that Tesla failed to deliver. Makes me believe they've totally lost the plot on battery tech.

Wasn’t the weight to energy ratio supposed to be better since you have less « tube » so-to-speak?

yea, that's the single percent improvement i mentioned.

'Musk thought that was a tiny detail that would be easy to overcome.' How did this guy become so insanely rich?

Tesla once again promising stuff they can’t deliver.

They really lost their focus IMO

Optimus was never real

Redacted.

I suspect that all the Tesla influencers gambled hard on Tesla stock so pushing a narrative directly affects their savings or pensions .

He got incredibly lucky that he conned Peter Thiel into buying his fake banking site. He then used his success into conning more people into newer cons.

On Earth no. But what matters is Mars reality.

Tesla becomes an "overvalued car company" with an aging fleet, no cheap entry-level model, and massive overhead that the current sales volume cannot support. News at 11

Same way Liz Holmes became rich. He’s an unscrupulous tech investor. He saw all these companies getting huge market caps for breadcrumbing hopes of transformative technology to thirsty investors. He decided to go all in and ramp up the delusional claims to infinity. Everyone seems cool with it.

It's funny, too because I told him how to avoid the situation and do it right and he just made fun of me to my face because I had a background in carbon nanotubes so he didn't respect my knowledge. You can totally do the dry paste process but you can't use PTFE on such large electrodes without hybrid carbon material geometries... And you can avoid the PTFE altogether by using the right carbon allotropes. It's doable, but was more complicated than he wanted, and would have taken an extra year to set up.

\^\^\^ this x1000. It's why you cannot trust any Tesla influencer/cockgobbler to tell the truth.

And an absolutely toxic neo-Nazi CEO who wore a MAGA hat saying 'Trump was right about everything'.

“The matketing worked great for tesla” Tesla is literally 100% marketing, lol

This guy materials

He was smart and bold (and rich enough from previous deals)  enough to begin a space launch company at a time when Boeing and Lockheed joined together to create an even slower and more expensive behemoth, ULA. They were also nimble and dynamic enough to figure out to land and reuse a booster. How much of this was due to Elon or CEO Shotwell is debatable.  Also, he lucked out by buying Tesla (didnt start it), but that was also going in a pretty good trajectory, but his FSD fantasies probably did help.  Not all were cons the whole time.

Literally their entire model is this is how cool the technology COULD and we’re sold that.

You can ask the same about Sam Altman.

Munro was always about helping car companies save, and NOT helping consumers or mechanics with repairability etc. he would take cars apart and then make recommendations on cost savings. Even if those recommendations resulted in harder to repair cars. His methods and ideas were not bad, they are what I as a manufacturing mechanical engineer are supposed to be pushing as well. Quick ease of assembly, less parts, error proofing etc. but that does not necessarily translate to an end product that a consumer can repair, or problem solve.

Sam Kinison: "Oh oh ohhhh!!! I live in HELLLLLL!!!*

I think it’s hilarious that people truly think that a chat bot is intelligent. And then these AI images. AI is the perfection of dazzling bullshit, the Munchausen of our time for the citizens of Schilda.

I had to look up the solar roof panels. Apparently still available, but still way too expensive.

You gotta start with your families diamond mine. Still working on getting my family interested in buying one.

Who needs a supply chain for batteries when you're an ~~EV~~ ~~energy~~ ~~robotaxi~~ ~~robotics~~ AI company? Who needs COGS when you sell dreams?

At the current rate of sales, they probably made enough batteries they'll be trying to move these things for the next decade. If I'm not mistaken, the battery can be switched over to a different type without too much hassle. Didn't all the Tesla tech kiss asses marvel at how much space there was in the battery tray for bigger batteries? They do have the huge sunk costs on tooling for the stainless and "giga" castings. Probably need to keep the line open a bit longer to get those amortized.

Woah buddy. It was only emeralds. He's not linked to DeBeersand a world monopoly on shiny earth rocks. /S

Did not. TSLA stock has been doomed since yesterday.

Robotaxi is new National Battery Day for Elon.

Tesla money turned him into a cult member.

Or just maybe all those tech advancements every academic publication praised as the future were never possible outside of green dreams.

Dude, my bad.  Just took a look at for sale listings and Emerald mines are so much easier to get into. Thanks so much, just sent to my Gramps.

We're gonna need to clear out some space for [all these chickens that are gonna wanna roost here](https://insideevs.com/news/740941/he-doesnt-know-how-to-make-battery-musk-blasted-catl-chief/)

>I told him how to avoid the situation and do it right and he just made fun of me to my face How many times have we heard this before? So glad we let this guy decide which Federal employees were important. What a poltroon. Sometimes I imagine what justice would look like coming for Elon and it makes me smile.

Why did we never hear anymore about this new battery? They had an entire feild day about the battery

And then they promptly disbanded the marketing department…

> what matters is Mars reality. Elmo's Mars isn't reality either.

What I find interesting is bmw got the form factor (well 4695s technically) to work pretty well in their upcoming ix3. Guess their engineers were able to realize whatever Tesla theoretically thought was possible

Wasn’t there a Russian link there with the early days of SpaceX?

Ah, I remember his public poo-pooing of someone with a nanotech background - were you the target of that poo-pooing or has he done that several times?

I like to think of it as the new semi reveal too.

It will be. "Next year"

What does a science fiction company need with batteries?

>His methods and ideas were not bad, they are what I as a manufacturing mechanical engineer are supposed to be pushing as well. Quick ease of assembly, less parts, error proofing etc. but that does not necessarily translate to an end product that a consumer can repair, or problem solve. Exactly. To the person buying the car, *best case* most of the stuff Sandy raves about would might show up as a lower purchase price.

You're absolutely right marketing worked great for Tesla, but keep in mind that back in 2017 or so we were desperate for anything new, and excited about mass-produced electric cars for the people. That helped the marketing work much better since a lot of us were ready to save the world and this was the start of removing a significant chunk of our dependency on fossil fuels. The fact that Musk turned out to be a lying grifter was unfortunate but while there are numerous problems, flaws, and even outright dangerous issue with Tesla vehicles, pie-in-the-sky promises, and shady business practices, the fact remains Tesla kick started us into the electric vehicle future. I'm happy that it's going to be pursued more sustainably and hopefully more responsibly by other manufacturers.

Writing something down 99% in accounting is akin to lighting it on fire and running the other way.

Economic fiction?

HIS focus?

As soon as I saw him spend minutes on his car show whining about the woke mind virus with Elon I wrote him off for good.

"5 years ago" was back in 2020-2021, not 2017. Musk has publicly shown himself to be a douchebag/grifter by then, yet the internet/Reddit was still defending his decisions like crazy.

>Elmo's Mars isn't reality either Unless Trump changes its name

Well the batteries will be gone, so they can roost between WankPanzer overstock.

It didn't work. Like 99.9% of other scam new battery tech hype.

Marketing of their stock not their products.

We'll see real quick how stainless those things actually are, I guess

Remember when Elno said the CyberSuck was a make-or-break vehicle for the company? Apparently the board forgot. Why would anyone do business with that guy or any of his companies?

It's been doomed for years but goddamn is it taking a long time to die

Russian space minister (?) mocked Musk and his rockets. Called them a trampoline or something.

Financial necromancy (aka fraud for the non magically inclined).

No comment. He can suck my balls, though.

>but goddamn is it taking a long time to die Like a kid playing cops and robbers.

I would debate 95% Shotwell. They have handlers at SpaceX that keep Leon from touching things.

Ah, I think the exchange he had was with a woman, so I don’t think it was you. Hahah.

Ketamine is a helluva drug.

No, I am not a woman. I was technically paid for my engagement as well.... At the time I was thinking of working there.

I was thinking about this thought-provoking exchange: https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-says-nanotechnology-is-bs-heres-how-its-already-changing-the-world-97476

Battery tech is a Cambrian explosion of developing ideas. Some succeed, some don't. Demonstrably there are lots of advancements over the last 5 years but Tesla hasn't been the one delivering most of them.

Trump proved himself to be a douche bag/grifter 50 years ago, and people are still defending **his** decisions - not to mention putting him in charge of the whole damn country. About 1/3 of the human race are cattle. Stupid, easily manipulated, actually *wanting* someone else to tell them what to think and what to do. They are the grifter's bread and butter. And as we've seen, that 1/3 is enough to screw everything up for the other 2/3. It's not whether you can be fooled initially. That can happen to anyone. It's whether or not you're capable of seeing through it and changing course. Not everyone has the critical thinking skills to do that - they get fooled again, and again, and again, the same way, with the same lies, by the same charlatans, and only double down and get angry when smarter people challenge them.

That's my point

Why can't they use the cells in their other EVs? If they are more cost efficient (which was the whole argument for building them in the first place), why not move the Model Y and 3 over to 4680?

Expensive to install, Expensive to maintain. Standard modular panels, batteries and inverters are the way to go if you want long term support and reliability.

Tesla was there at the right time and they deserve credit. But the taxpayers and the government created the electric car market that we know today through rebates and other incentives including access to California’s carpool lanes.

I thought Monroe was not too brilliant when he started suggesting we should eliminate wiring harnesses and do everything wirelessly like via Bluetooth

Isn’t this news about the battery supply being slashed only apply to the cybertruck? If so, clickbait title.

Sounds bullish to me I’m in!

Right!?! Tesla; the meme stock.

Yes. But because of the structural battery pack it turned out they had to make the tube material thicker to take the mechanical load. So "bye bye" to the better "weight to energy ratio" ;-)

No matter how cheap Elon Musk come out a model, Chinese will have cheaper offerings. That is why Elon Musk won't produce Model Two because it is pointless. Robotaxi will the other way to defeat China.

Lmao, really? I knew the final gains of those cells were negligible at best but that’s just too funny

Yes. I read it somewhere.

Still no reliable figures on whether a reusable booster is actually more efficient.

She's another Musk's sycophant, nothing special about her. You just have to hear her talk.

What???

What do you mean? It’s around ATH.

She’s smart enough to say exactly what he wants to hear and then do what should actually be done…. Most of the time

Was this the completely fictitious battery with wild Enron Musk promises of what it would do? Does writing down vaporware really mean anything?

Redacted.

I mean it's a fraud, a stock based on memes and lies rather than value. Being at ATH is part of the "long time to die" where I express surprise that so many investors still have a chance to survive their "bigger idiot" gambles.

Oh yeah, that's about two years later I wonder if I pissed him off because I told him his idea for 4680's couldn't scale off the Lab bench and he needed nano carbon allotropes to get there... That might actually line up. He switched over from friendly to asshole real quick when I gave him the constructive feedback I was being paid for...

My condolences for having met him.

He was outwardly less shitty then... I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in the cave pedo thing, but.... Yeah. On the other hand, I've never made so much money in 4 hours.... Even now ten years later. And all I had to do was talk

BMW is using similar or slightly taller cells on their Neue Klasse. The shape is not the problem. It was Musk’s ego imagining he could lap the incumbent battery manufacturers the way they lapped the legacy auto makers. And when progress was not as rapid giving up.

her job is to keep the money flowing and Musk’s BS brings in the money

There was a little humor or sarcasm in my comment 🙂

I'll recalibrate the respect meter :)

Tesla is a tech company that also does cars.

https://electrek.co/2025/12/30/elon-musk-top-5-tesla-predictions-2025-didnt-happen/

"My Tesla and SpaceX shares, which are almost all my 'wealth', only go up in value as a function of how much useful product those companies produce and service... This means my 'wealth' can only increase due to producing more products and services for the public". -Elon Musk

get real

Because Tesla doesn’t need batteries, Elon announced a plan for miniature nuclear reactors that would fit in every car. The power generation will be enough to run your home when plugged in. Expect deliveries by end of 2025.

This is a strange story. 4680 batteries are used on Tesla Model Y which is their best seller now.

About time he tweeted about dogecoin again

These batteries aren't an engineering failure, they are a business failure. There was a time when Tesla was able to make lithium ion batteries cheaper than anyone else. They even planned to augment revenue by supplying batteries to other automakers. Then CATL won. EV makers can now buy batteries for less money per kwh than it costs Tesla to make them. The article is about a vendor who was contracted to ramp up 4680 production but has decided to write off all expenses for the operation at a near total loss. Tesla is still making the 4680s. The article is evidence that they aren't looking to make more and may even looking for an offramp.

Slight correction, Tesla had Panasonic make batteries cheaper then everyone else.  Tesla never really had "in house" battery production, it was just Panasonic with a Tesla sticker on the factory.

> I still remember discussions about batteries 5 years ago, you'd get downvoted to oblivion if you dared to question 4680. Oh I REMEMBER - **[Battery Day](https://www.youtube.com/live/l6T9xIeZTds?si=fi8vPDPiz0Lk3tjo)** Ended up being another successful stock pump with failed promises. I remember the stupid 4680 patent design being passed around like it was the end all be all for EVs.

It is a joint venture. Panasonic provided IP and engineers while Tesla provided capital. The entity owns the IP. Both Panasonic and Tesla have equity in the entity. There is tremendous sunk cost in the venture. Were it as simple as Panasonic being the battery vendor, Tesla would have left them a long time ago. Abandoning the effort requires Tesla to realize extreme capital losses and they don't seem to have the appetite for that right now.

Well, Elon suggested it. Monro agreed.  I think there is a use case for some of that.  But there are too many parts of a modern car the wiring harness connects to so the cost and complexity, and unreliability would increase. On an old car where there was loads of wiring running the full length of the car just to a couple of rear lights clusters it would have made some sense, but of course the tech wasn't available then.

From $2.9B to $7400. That's not 99%, that's 100% and change

https://electrek.co/2026/01/06/tesla-full-2025-data-europe-total-bloodbath/ This 2025 data is a tough pill to swallow for Tesla investors, who are coping by telling themselves that Tesla’s EV sales don’t matter anymore