CATL BTF0 161Ah LFP is the cell used in the 55kWh Tesla Model 3 SR pack.
Sandro Stock et al [1] have published a cell teardown and analysis. This gives an insight to the cell characteristics and design. The cell is made by CATL.
Spcifications
- Chemistry = LFP
- Nominal = 3.2V
- 3.65V to 2.5V
- Capacity = 161Ah
- Energy =515Wh
- Weight = 3.1kg
- Dimensions = 280 × 63 × 82mm
- ACIR ~ 0.4mΩ
Jan Schöberl et [4]
Metrics
- Energy density
- 166Wh/kg
- 356Wh/litre
It has two jelly rolls, vertical aligned jelly roll axis and a height of just 82mm making it very well suited to being base cooled as per the Tesla pack design.
Charging
The cell charge rate as installed in the Tesla Model 3 [2] shows a peak of 3C and an average in the 20 to 80% window (vehicle SoC window) of ~1.5C
Note that this 0 to 100% window maps onto 90% of the cell window (based on the usable versus total energy content of the Tesla Model 3 pack).
This post has been built based on the support and sponsorship from: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Eatron Technologies, About:Energy and Quarto Technical Services.
Cell Design
Sandro Stock et al [1] give a breakdown of the cell electrode parameters:
| Electrode | Cathode | Anode | Separator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length (m) | 22.0 (±2%) | 22.6 (±2%) | 23.7 (±2%) |
| Width (mm) | 67 (±0.1) | 70 (±0.1) | 75 (±0.1) |
| Sheet thickness (μm) | 200 (±2) | 148 (±2) | 13 (±3) |
| Loading (mg/cm2) | 22.6 (±0.3) | 10.7 (±0.2) | – |
| Areal capacitya (mAh/cm2) | 3.44 (±0.05) | 3.66 (±0.08) | – |
| Coating density (g/cm3) | 2.40 (±0.05) | 1.50 (±0.04) | – |
| Porosity (%) | 32 (±2) | 32 (±2) | |
| Current collector (CC) | Aluminum | Copper | |
| CC thickness (μm) | 12 (±1) | 5 (±1) | – |
| CC coating (μm) | 27 (±2) | – | – |
| CC number | 40 | 40 | – |
The latest version of this cell sees the capacity increased to ~174Ah in the same package.
References
- Sandro Stock, Jan Hagemeister, Sophie Grabmann, Johannes Kriegler, Josef Keilhofer, Manuel Ank, Jonas L.S. Dickmanns, Markus Schreiber, Fabian Konwitschny, Nikolaos Wassiliadis, Markus Lienkamp, Rüdiger Daub, Cell teardown and characterization of an automotive prismatic LFP battery, Electrochimica Acta, Volume 471, 2023
- MIC Tesla Model 3 SR+ Fast Charging Test Reveals Strong Results, InsideEVs