Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
By now, almost everyone has heard of Rivian’s new R2 and R3 electric cars, and of course, the R3X, off-roader, small electric SUV, They look good.
But to me, far more interesting is what nobody is really talking about. Rivian’s new battery cells.
Similarities to Tesla 4680 Cells
They’re very similar to Tesla’s 4680 cells. In fact, almost identically, but just a little bit bigger. Tesla a 4680 cylindrical battery cells.
BMW then announced last year it would manufacture 4695 cylindrical battery cells, very similar to Tesla’s batteries, but a little bit bigger than Tesla’s cells.
Now, this happened Amidst a lot of companies saying a lot of so-called armchair Internet experts saying Tesla’s 4680 cells were a disaster.
They were never going to work It was a bad idea. But BMW came along and said, No, they will work. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
Then a bunch of other companies as well said, Yeah, we’re going to build similar-sized cylindrical cells.
It’s a great idea. Even General Motors have said that they will as well.
Unveiling Rivian’s Revolutionary 4695 Battery Cells
Rivian’s latest electric vehicles, including the R2 and R3 models, have been making headlines, but the true innovation lies in the quietly introduced 4695 cylindrical battery cells. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
This development closely follows the trend set by Tesla 4680 cells, with Rivian opting for a slightly larger design.
Similarities to Tesla’s 4680 Cells
Rivian’s 4695 cells bear a striking resemblance to Tesla 4680 cells, prompting discussions within the automotive community.
BMW had previously announced its production of 4695 cylindrical battery cells, aligning with Tesla’s revolutionary approach.
Amid skepticism about the success of Tesla’s 4680 cells, BMW’s endorsement and subsequent commitments from various companies have solidified the viability of this battery design. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
Advantages of the 4695 Cells
Interestingly, Rivian are going to manufacture 4695 cylindrical cells, exactly the same size as BMW standard. I’m not sure I think this is a great idea.
Now, what does this mean? Well, it means the cells have a diameter of 46 millimeters and a height of 95 millimeters.
Meaning, really, they are probably about 15% bigger than a Tesla cylindrical battery cell.
What chemistry do they use? It’s almost certainly not lithium-ion phosphate chemistry, which is what I think Rivian should be doing.
Unique Battery Pack Configuration
Rivian are actually going to put lithium-ion phosphate battery cells in the cheapest version versions of their EVs. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
The cheapest versions won’t use these 4695. They’ll be using lithium-ion phosphate. I think that would be better off for all their vehicles, but that’s not what Rivian thinks.
Rivian believes 4695 cells have a distinct advantage. What is the advantage? Well, as battery cells get bigger, their voltage doesn’t change unless the chemistry changes. But Rivian is going to use conventional lithium-ion chemistry.
Now, what this means is because of the increase in size, Largest cells can typically charge and discharge faster. Good for things like performance.
This means the R2 will likely be able to charge faster and offer more peak power than if it used, say, 4680 cells or 2170, or to be honest, anything else that’s out on the market right now. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
These 4695 cylindrical battery cells will be the biggest cylindrical battery cells used in the automotive industry, but they could potentially have efficiency gains.
Some people believe the bigger the cell, the cheaper they are to manufacture, and the better it is for packaging.
Now, I’m not convinced that’s true I believe it’s going to expose some gaps in the pack and of course, pack energy density is very, very important for manufacturing efficiency.
If you think about it, the bigger the cell gets, the bigger the gap gets in between the cells. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
But of course, the bigger difference in terms of the size of Rivian cells versus Tesla is not actually in the width, it’s actually in the height.
Chemistry and Other Details
The gap between each cell won’t actually increase because the width of the battery is the same, 46 millimeters versus Tesla’s 46 millimeters.
It’s actually just going to be a taller battery cell. This could have some advantages, could have some disadvantages. No one other than BMW is manufacturing these.
But some of BMW’s contract manufacturers, basically the battery companies that make batteries for BMW, have begun to start putting in place the ability to produce these battery cells for BMW. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
Maybe Rivian are placing orders with the same companies for basically what is BMW cylindrical cells. Maybe Rivian and BMW have some joint venture here.
It seems highly likely, very unusual for a car company to come out and say, We’re going to use the same exact dimensions.
This hasn’t happened before, as far as I know, in terms of a brand new battery size.
Now, Rivian is not the first to use 4695, but it’s worth mentioning that Samsung, Panasonic, and LG are manufacturing 4680 for Tesla, and they could, I guess, possibly make production lines for BMW and Rivian as well.
What we learned from Rivian’s presentation, the pack consists of three large modules separated by heavy internal frame rails. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
Each module is 34 cells wide by eight deep for a total of 272 cells. There is an advantage here, guys.
This is a very small number of cells. It means there’s far less cells that can go wrong. Think about it, right? If you’re using, say, 2170 cells, they’re half the size.
You need twice as many batteries. Therefore, it’s more likely that one of those cells will have an issue versus one of the cells in a bigger battery pack.
That’s one of the big advantages here. If one cell goes bad, then you can easily replace it as well.
1,000 Volt Architecture: A Game-Changer
What this means is that we have a module voltage of 979.2 volts nominal. That’s a 1,000 volt architecture. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
So Rivian’s new EVs will be using a 1,000 volt architecture, which is really quite revolutionary, and it could enable incredibly fast charging speeds.
With three of these modules wired in parallel, motor 1 says that the voltage will remain the same, but the current available will go up considerably.
Performance Potential with 10 C Discharge Capability
So what does this mean? Well, 4695 apparently are capable of discharging at up to 10 c. That means 10 times their rate of capacity in amp hours.
That would mean for acceleration purposes, they could discharge an enormous amount of power at once, very, very quickly.
This would enable you to have a car that has, say, more than 1,200 horsepower, and to discharge that power really quickly. Rivian’s Latest 4695 Battery Cells
Performance would be just insane. Now, at this point in time, we don’t know energy density. We don’t know the actual chemistry involved.
That could change things. We really don’t know any details other than what I’ve shared here, which is the battery size and the pack dimensions and how they’re going to go about building these packs. But the chemistry is really the most interesting part, I think.