About a year ago, Tesla's fourth global super factory, the Berlin factory, officially opened. At the new car launch celebration, Musk personally handed over 30 Model Y Performances to users.
At that time, the weekly production capacity of the Berlin factory was less than 1000 vehicles, and only the Model Y Performance high-performance version could be produced. Today, a year later, after the continuous increase in production capacity, the weekly production capacity of the Tesla Berlin super factory Model Y has exceeded 5000 vehicles.
Of course, this is not the biggest change yet. The biggest change comes from the addition of blade batteries in Tesla's Berlin factory today.
At present, the first rear drive version of Model Y using BYD blade batteries produced by Tesla's Berlin super factory in Germany has gone offline. This is the first domestic production model using lithium iron phosphate battery launched by Tesla in the European market, and it is also the first time that BYD blade batteries are installed on products of other automobile enterprises.
In the previous European market, all Tesla Model Y rear wheel drive versions were exported from Shanghai's super factory. Previously, Tesla only had Model Y long endurance and Model Y high-performance models available for sale in the European market. It was only in August last year that Tesla opened the entry-level Model Y rear drive ordering option in the European market, at a time when the German region was selling for approximately 53990 euros.
According to the official information booked at the time, it can be seen that the Model Y rear wheel drive version pre-sale by Tesla in the European market last year showed a battery pack capacity of 60kWh, WLTP range of 455km, zero to 100 acceleration of 6.9 seconds, and a top speed of 217km/h, which is completely consistent with the domestic Model Y rear wheel drive version produced by the Shanghai factory.
But now with the addition of blade batteries, the locally manufactured Model Y rear drive version in Europe has begun to be delivered to European users.
The European version of the Model Y rear wheel drive version equipped with a blade battery has a battery pack capacity of 55kWh and a WLTP range of 440km. It is currently only sold in the European market. Compared to the Model Y rear wheel drive version imported from the Shanghai factory before, the latter uses a 60kWh battery pack from Ningde Times, with a WLTP range of 455km, and the difference between the two is not significant.
Even due to the increase in blade battery capacity density, while the European version of the Model Y battery pack has reduced its capacity by 5kWh, the WLTP battery life has only been reduced by a mere 15km.
But the difference in endurance parameters is not the biggest difference between the two. Currently, European users who have received the blade battery version of the Model Y rear drive model have shared the charging situation of two different battery packs, and the blade battery almost completely outperforms the domestic version of the Model Y, which only has the Ningde Era battery, in terms of charging rate.
The charging situation of Model Y for two different battery packs is shown in the following figure:
As can be seen, the horizontal axis in the figure shows the battery pack's battery level, the vertical axis shows the charging power, the red line shows BYD batteries, and the green line shows CATL batteries. Both battery packs start charging when the battery level is still around 20 SOC%.
At the beginning of charging, the blade battery experienced a rapid power ramp period, and the charging power remained close to 175kW until the battery pack level reached 50%. However, the charging power began to decrease all the way, but it could still maintain a charging power of 75kW when the battery pack level was close to 80%. Even when the battery pack level was close to 100%, the charging power could still reach around 25kW, and the charging rate was very fast.
On the contrary, the domestic Model Y of CATL battery pack is in stark contrast. Although the charging power has reached a maximum of nearly 175kW since the insertion of the gun, as the battery SOC increases, the charging power directly decreases. When the battery level reaches about 50%, the charging power only remains at around 110kW, while the charging power of blade batteries is still around 175kW, and the entire charging rate chart is basically a red line pressing the green line, with a clear contrast.
In addition, foreign users have also provided a comparison of the charging distance and time of blade batteries. When the battery level is low, V3 overcharging can replenish 250 kilometers in 19-20 minutes, 280 kilometers in 23 minutes, and 300 kilometers in 27 minutes.
The European version of the Model Y with a blade battery has a calibrated range of only 440km, which is indeed a very pleasant charging speed. It is basically a normal rest time during long-distance travel, and it can smoothly complete energy replenishment.
The blade battery version Model Y can not be separated from its unique structure. As we all know, the blade battery is the lithium iron phosphate battery which has redesigned the shape, layout and arrangement of the battery cells. It is arranged in parallel through the array. As shown in the figure, "blade" is inside the battery pack, which can improve the space utilization rate of the power battery pack, increase the energy density, and on the other hand, ensure that the battery cells have sufficient cooling area, At the same time, this parallel arrangement, combined with BYD CTB technology, can also enhance the strength of the vehicle body with the battery pack.
As shown in the picture, the top picture shows the aluminum heat sink, and the bottom picture shows the BYD blade battery.
Compared with CATL lithium iron phosphate battery, almost the blade battery with heat sink structure should have higher heat dissipation efficiency. For Tesla, the probability of thermal runaway may also be relatively low in terms of thermal management, which can improve its charging rate faster.
In fact, not only the heat dissipation performance and charging rate, but also the energy density of the blade battery is 140Wh/kg, while the energy density of the CATL lithium iron phosphate battery is 126Wh/kg, which is why the blade battery version Model Y produced in Europe, compared with the model Y of the CATL lithium iron phosphate battery in Shanghai, has only 5kW less battery pack energy, but also has only 15km less endurance, which can be ignored.
In the end, the Model Y of the blade battery version is so good. Can the domestic Shanghai factory replace it? I think it's unlikely.
One reason why Tesla used BYD blade batteries at its Berlin factory is likely to be to continue reducing costs. The Berlin factory's Model Y is currently a model that uses integrated die-casting technology for both the front and rear, which is also different from the Shanghai factory's Molde Y. The use of integrated die-casting technology for both the front and rear will further reduce production costs.
The introduction of blade batteries will lower the cost of the Model Y in the Berlin factory, after all, each vehicle has 5 kilowatt hours less electricity, and the structure of the blade batteries is also more conducive to Tesla's integration. With Tesla's shipment volume, the overall cost reduction will be quite significant. Therefore, in the future, the Mode Y rear wheel drive version may also be further reduced in the European market, although the Tesla Mode Y itself is now the best-selling model in Europe.
If the Shanghai factory also uses BYD blade batteries, while reducing costs, it may also prompt Tesla to further initiate a price reduction strategy in China, which is obviously not what BYD is willing to see.
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