Tesla Tests out New Cybertruck Equipped With Dry-Cathode Battery

Tesla is reportedly testing out a new kind of Cybertrucks, one that is equipped with a dry-cathode battery, offering new advantages in the electric vehicle battery industry.

The car, with Tesla's cutting-edge internal dry cathode 4680 cells, is currently being tested. The latest model is expected to improve technology and lower costs. It is anticipated that the dry-cathode technology will improve the range and performance of the Cybertruck while also cutting production costs.

Cole Otto, a Senior Manufacturing Engineer at Tesla, has revealed information about the latest car in a post on LinkedIn. Otto stated that the electric vehicle company has started testing vehicles using its innovative dry cathode 4680 cells developed in-house.

Five years ago, Tesla purchased Maxwell in order to utilize its dry electrode coating technology in the manufacturing of battery cells.

At that moment, Tesla was only making battery cells with Panasonic, but the purchase showed its intention to start producing cells internally. Auto Evolution reported that Maxwell created the dry electrode coating process for its supercapacitor manufacturing, which Tesla believed could be adapted for producing battery cells.

Joe Tegtmeyer, a longtime observer of Giga Texas, was the first to share the images of Tesla's initial dry cathode Cybertruck.

Obtaining Maxwell's dry battery electrode manufacturing technology was intended to greatly decrease the costs of manufacturing electrodes. The cost of acquiring Maxwell would be balanced out by the savings made in electrode manufacturing in a short period of time.

Tesla vs. Phantom Drain

Tesla is still working on enhancing battery life, with the recent focus being on phantom drain, a common issue for electric car owners where the battery loses charge while the car is parked. A new update for the mobile app is designed to greatly decrease this energy waste.

Phantom drain, also called vampire drain, is the electricity lost by an electric vehicle when it is not in use and stationary. Multiple factors play a role in this occurrence, such as the car's different connectivity features and the battery's thermal management system.

Tesla is escalating efforts to combat phantom drain with a new mobile app update. Version 4.35.0 of the Tesla app introduces a significant update: the app will not awaken the car when opened anymore.

Although the update may not make a big difference on its own, when applied to Tesla's extensive fleet, the overall impact is significant. Just a small 0.5 kWh per car saved each week adds up to gigawatt-hours of energy saved yearly across all cars.

Rivian vs. Phantom Drain

Not only Tesla owners, but Rivian owners also encountered the phantom drain problem in the past. Nevertheless, with the most recent changes, their situation began to improve.

Rivian's head of software, Wassym Bensaid, urged users to update their vehicles not just to prevent issues, but also to save more energy for upcoming journeys.

According to the same report, approximately 1 to 3 percent of the battery's State of Charge was depleted while the Rivian EV was stationary. Bensaid discovered multiple grievances regarding this matter on Reddit. He confirmed that the team has successfully addressed the major differences in the current drain.