Tesla Struggles with Battery Production for Cybertruck

Company's dry-coating process for cathodes proving challenging, slowing down production of 4680 battery cells.

Tesla's Giga Texas factory is currently producing 4680 battery cells at a rate only sufficient to power about 24,000 Cybertrucks a year, far short of the required output for the company's ambitious production goals.
Tesla's struggle lies in scaling up and speeding up the dry-coating process for the cathode, the most expensive component in a battery.
Tesla's dry-coating method for cathodes is not proving to be any faster than the old wet process, and the company is still building a new quality verification system to weed out cells with coating flaws.
Tesla's battery tsar Drew Baglino said in October that the company was now producing 4680 cells on two production lines in Austin and plans to install a total of eight lines there in two phases, with the last four due to be running in late 2024.
Tesla's progress with scaling up 4680 production will likely gain steam, especially once it achieves stability with the production know-how on one production line, according to two sources familiar with the matter.