Envision AESC rolled out its 46-series large cylindrical batteries, which will be supplied to BMW's global electric vehicle platform | The Frontline
Recently, Envision AESC announced that the company's 46-series large cylindrical battery products rolled off the production line at its super factory in Jiangyin, Wuxi, and the first batch has been shipped to the United States to supply BMW's global electric platform models.
At Tesla's "Battery Day" in 2020, Elon Musk first unveiled the large cylindrical battery and expected it to be mass-produced within three years. This battery has a diameter of 46 millimeters and a height of 80 millimeters, hence the name 4680 battery. According to Musk's initial expectations, the 4680 battery could reduce the battery manufacturing cost by about 20%, the equipment investment cost by 35%, and the factory floor area by 70%. Meanwhile, compared with the 21700 battery, its single-cell energy would increase by 5 times and the power by 6 times.
Driven by Tesla, the domestic and foreign automotive industries have bet on large cylindrical batteries, including automakers such as BMW, Volvo, and NIO, as well as power battery manufacturers such as EVE Energy, CATL, and Envision AESC. However, Tesla's large cylindrical battery didn't start small-scale mass production until 2023, and it only announced the mass production of dry-process cathodes this year.
During this period, automakers such as NIO have shelved their plans to use large cylindrical batteries in vehicles. BMW is one of the few that has persisted in the large cylindrical battery technology route and is the second automaker after Tesla to announce the mass production and installation of large cylindrical batteries in vehicles.
According to Envision AESC, the 46-series large cylindrical batteries it supplies to BMW use high-nickel cathodes and silicon-doped anodes. The single-cell energy density is up to about 310Wh/kg, and the energy density of the whole battery pack is about 20% higher than that of the batteries currently used by BMW, which can increase the vehicle's cruising range by 30%. Meanwhile, this battery also supports fast-charging technology with a rate of 6C and higher, enabling a quick energy replenishment from 10% to 80% in 10 minutes.
In addition, the single cell of this battery generates less heat. Combined with the design of thermal-electric separation and directional pressure relief, it reduces the spread of thermal runaway between cells, thus making the battery safer.
In terms of platform compatibility, the 46-series battery cells support the full voltage platform from 400V to 1000V, covering the full range of vehicle models from Class A to Class D, which can reduce the vehicle development cost and cycle.
In the future, the BMW models that will be equipped with the 46-series large cylindrical batteries are the BMW X7 and X3 models for the global market, as well as the X5 and X6 models for the North American and Latin American markets. To ensure the delivery schedule of these models, Envision AESC has currently deployed more efficient production lines at its super factory in Cangzhou, Hebei, which will start mass production in the second half of this year.