Elon Musk says Tesla Semi is ready for production, but limited by battery cell output 📦

16    28 Jan 2021 14:35 by u/XakwithanX

"The main reason we have not accelerated new products – like for example Tesla Semi – is that we simply don't have enough cells for it," Musk said. "If we were to make the Semi right now, and we could easily go into production with the Semi right now, but we would not have enough cells for it." Musk added that the company does expect to have sufficient cell volume to meet its needs once it goes into production on its 4680 battery pack, which is a new custom cell design it created with a so-called 'tables' design that allows for greater energy density and, therefore, range.

10 comments

4 u/tom9152 28 Jan 2021 15:29
![](https://i.imgur.com/zOwdTdM.jpg)
1 u/fanchiotti 28 Jan 2021 15:41
lol, for the drag alone it's not worth it.
1 u/Ryaniskira 28 Jan 2021 15:56
I daily drive a Model 3 and I've even taken a trip to Colorado with it, it's about to the point there's enough at least Level 2 chargers that you don't have to worry about where your next plug is. I think I've had to use the backup charger once in my life, at a hotel and since the dryer wasn't working they let me plug it into that outlet (you can plug into a standard 120v outlet too, but the 240v outlet powering a dryer is faster).
1 u/JoBobBarhart 28 Jan 2021 15:15
Electric cars all have the same weakness, their batteries. Nobody has come close to overcoming this issue as it is impossible to overcome because of the physics of the problem. Other than that power problem, electric cars are the expensive answer to a question nobody is really asking.
2 u/Ryaniskira 28 Jan 2021 15:59
Actually there are already several proposed solutions to the battery issue with some pretty close to market release.
1 u/JoBobBarhart 28 Jan 2021 21:06
There are serious physical limitations on the storage of electricity that will only be solved with the suspension of the laws of physics. Additionally, there are not the raw materials to manufacture the batteries needed to make a small nation electric, let along somewhere like California. What resources for batteries that are out there were bought up by the Chinese, so if they go electric with their billion cars there won't be squat for the others.
2 u/Ryaniskira 28 Jan 2021 22:47
I would look up solid state batteries and/or LCBs. There is nothing preventing batteries from becoming denser in terms of storage capacity.
1 u/diogenesofthemidwest 28 Jan 2021 15:32
Instead of shutting down pipelines and giving tax breaks to windmills, Biden should be throwing money at the capacitor battery problem.
3 u/fanchiotti 28 Jan 2021 15:42
Maybe he shouldn't do both. Keep the government out of this.
1 u/LifeIsHard 28 Jan 2021 16:53
Use hydrogen for long distance you fool