The highly anticipated new 4680 battery of Tesla has finally been configured by the MIT Model Y, though the fast charging speed from 0-80% is not as remarkable as expected.

The MIT (Made in Texas) version of Model Y has started adopting Tesla’s new 4680 battery, which according to what Elon Musk claimed two years ago, should be marginally improved in charging speed. However, the result may not be as perfect as expected according to the latest test.

According to the test of foreign media, charging a Model Y equipped with the new battery at the latest V3 Supercharger attained a maximum charging power of 250kW, and took 32 minutes to charge from 0% to 80%, which provides approximately 362km of driving range for the vehicle (as indicated on the infotainment system).

The charging power had quickly shrunken from nearly 250kW in the beginning to below 100kW after 12 minutes when the battery was charged to 50%. The battery rose to 60% after 20 minutes amidst the slowly reducing power, before it went down to below 60kW when the battery was at 80%.

For another test, the same MIT Model Y took 52 minutes to charge from 0% to 97% at a Supercharger, which provided approximately 434km of driving range. What happened during the test was that the team still managed to drive for about 5km before arriving at the Supercharger, even though the infotainment system indicated a driving range of zero, which obviously indicates that Tesla has hidden a little portion of power within its vehicles for emergency situations. With that being said, Tesla owners should not left their driving range below zero.

A driving range of approximately 360km provided by a charge of 32 minutes from 0% to 80% is definitely a remarkable achievement, but it is not the best performance on the market. IONIQ 5 and Kioxia EV6, both adopted with an 800V circuit architecture, only need 18 minutes to charge from 10% to 80%, providing roughly 338km of driving range.

Tesla’s 4680 battery is not only huge in dimension, but can also lower the level of heat during high power thanks to its incorporation of a tab-less design, thus the charging time is expected to diminish from a higher power. According to previous projections, models adopted with the 4680 battery should charge from 10% to 80% within 15 minutes.

So why is the test result mediocre? It may have something to do with Tesla having yet to activate the largest potential of the several vehicles adopted with the 4680 battery. Theoretically, higher power can be utilized to charge up the vehicle without having to worry about excessive heat or fire, but in reality the company may need additional statistics for reference before they gradually elevate charging power. After all, any incidents that happen during the charging of vehicles would become a heavy blow for Tesla.

Again, those who wish to obtain a better charging performance for Model Y equipped with the 4680 battery should just wait for OTA.

 (Cover photo source: Joe Tegtmeyer)