Tesla’s 4680 Structural Battery Pack Shown in New Image

A first look at Tesla’s new structural battery pack, complete with honeycomb architecture. Photo: electrek

Tesla’s structural battery pack was unveiled at last year’s Battery Day event, along with the 4680 battery cell that has the industry in awe.

In a new update, electrek shared the first picture of the new structural battery pack, including honeycomb architecture which will house the new battery cells.

The structural battery pack is a major change from Tesla’s previous battery containment design, mostly in that the battery cells no longer use modules, and rather use an entire structural platform of the vehicle with honeycomb architecture to house the battery cells. The new design solidifies the entire platform beneath the car, significantly reducing both the number of parts used and the total mass of the vehicle.

The structural battery pack will also be featured in the highly-anticipated Model S Plaid, as confirmed by CEO Elon Musk last year. In addition, Model Y units built out of Gigafactory Berlin have been confirmed to use the upcoming structural pack.

Check out Tesla’s video yesterday uploaded to YouTube, titled ‘Making batteries’, which shows off the 4680 cell production (that’s “Honey Bee” by Don Hinton as the soundtrack, hinting at the honeycomb structure):

YouTube video

In any case, Tesla’s new structural battery pack is the real deal, and EVs with the new hardware will start delivering this year. Until then, we’ll just have to settle for this picture of the structural pack completely empty, before being filled with 4680 cells.