The Tesla Mannequin 3 and the BYD Han EV are common electrical sedans in China. The Han secured its place as China’s eighth best-selling automobile in H1 2023 with roughly 72,000 items offered, whereas the Mannequin 3 held floor because the tenth best-selling EV, with near 67,000 gross sales. A teardown specialist disassembled each their battery packs to discern the higher cooling system.
The Tesla Mannequin 3 in query had the 2170 cells, probably sourced from Panasonic or LG Chem, whereas the BYD Han EV makes use of the Blade battery pack.
Each packs are related in measurement however differ in a number of areas, as per the mechanic who identified the variations in a Twitter video. Tesla’s battery will get a steel high shell, whereas the Blade pack’s high cowl is plastic. The steel shell would have higher recyclability and appeal to a better resale worth, stated the mechanic.
The Mannequin 3’s pack additionally seem higher put collectively. It’s bolted utilizing screws and gelatin-based structural adhesive whereas the Blade battery solely makes use of screws. Despite the fact that that makes BYD’s pack simple to disassemble, the Tesla battery is healthier sealed, stated the narrator within the video.
Serviceability might be Tesla’s forte. The 2170 cells are packed into 4 modules, which could be individually disassembled if broken cells want alternative. BYD’s cell-to-pack design is module-free, and the cells are glued to the underside of the case with a potent adhesive, which makes them irreplaceable, as per the video.
By way of thermal administration, the Blade pack makes use of a cooling plate mounted over the cells, by way of which the coolant flows to handle cell temperatures. Tesla’s cooling sheets are wrapped across the cells inside the modules, and seem to cowl extra cell space, leading to improved cooling consistency, stated the mechanic.
BYD’s thermal administration is like urgent an ice-cold water bottle in opposition to your cheeks in sizzling climate, whereas Tesla’s cooling system is just ingesting that water, as per the narrator’s analogy.
Tesla doesn’t launch the battery measurement for its fashions, however our evaluation primarily based on EPA vitality consumption and claimed vary means that it may have a capability of round 60 kilowatt hours for the usual vary variants and 80 kWh for the long-range variations. The Han EV makes use of an 85.4 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery pack.
As a reminder, there are a number of variables to contemplate in battery comparisons, and the aforementioned elements don’t essentially make one higher than the opposite. One report states that Tesla is utilizing the Blade pack within the Mannequin Y produced at Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenberg, because it has better-charging capabilities than the CATL items.
It’s value noting that the 2170 cells are older than Tesla’s 4680 cells, that are conceptually just like the cell-to-pack Blade battery. When Tesla first introduced the brand new cells in 2020 at a Battery Day occasion, it stated that they’d be cheaper to supply and provide an improved vary.
Some variants of the Mannequin Y are already outfitted with the brand new cells, whereas the Cybertruck can also be anticipated to make use of the identical.