In April, Tesla announced boosting its energy storage battery production with a new production facility in Shanghai. The ability to produce more Megapack storage batteries was seen as an indication that Tesla now has more battery cells than it needs for EV production. Plummeting lithium prices and improved battery cell yields were likely to cause an abundance of cells. Switching energy-storage batteries to lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells should also free more ternary-cell capacity for vehicle production.
The 4680-cell production was believed to have increased as Tesla started selling the Model Y with these cells. Still, all these assumptions were proven wrong by Elon Musk in a speech at an energy conference in Austin, Texas. Tesla CEO said he doesn't expect Semi production to reach larger volumes until late 2024, although he didn't elaborate on what he considers "higher-volume production." Musk cited battery cell supply constraints for the delay in Semi production ramp.
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