A few days ago, Rivian made a surprise by introducing not one, but two new Rivian R2 and R3 models. Which will certainly reassure shareholders and even customers, Rivian is currently experiencing heavy losses, which puts its future in jeopardy. In addition to this, the American firm presented a new technology of battery cells that may well overshadow the technology used by Tesla.

Indeed, Rivian has just unveiled a large cylindrical battery, larger than the famous 4680 developed by Tesla, which could therefore allow its cars to charge faster. At the same time, Rivian may pave the way for a new architecture more powerful than 800 volts.

What are the advantages of a larger cell?

Rivian’s new cylindrical camera is numbered 4695. The numbers indicate a diameter that is 46 millimeters and a height that is 95 millimeters. Tesla 4680, as you can guess, is 15 millimeters shorter.
The American company has not yet provided details on the chemistry, which is likely to be quite classic, namely NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt). When the battery cells are larger, their voltage does not change. If the chemistry doesn’t change, so the amp-hour capacity of the cell is likely to be higher and the 4695 will hold more energy than the 4680. But this will not be his only advantage.
Batteries could be charged and discharged at higher rates. Essentially, this means that the Rivian R2 and R3 batteries will likely be able to charge faster and provide higher peak power than batteries made from 4680 cells. Regenerative braking can also be more powerful, resulting in increased efficiency.
Rivian is not the first to enter the race for 4695 cells. BMW recently showed prototypes of 4695 cells, which the manufacturer intends to democratize in its future EVs on the Neue Klasse platform by 2025. Samsung SDI, Panasonic and LG also work on very large cylindrical cells with a diameter of 46 and various lengths.

A new 1000 volt architecture?

Looking a little closer at the image shown during the presentation, we can see that the new battery, consisting of 4,695 cylindrical cells, consists of three large modules that take up the entire length of the battery.
Zooming in, we can see that 34 cells are arranged in eight rows along. So, each module contains 272 cells. For three modules, this is only 816 cells. If it is a lithium-ion battery, we get a nominal voltage of 979.2 volts. That’s why it would be with 1000 volt architecture and not 800 volts, as now in the most “advanced” models on the market.
Thanks to this architecture, Rivian’s future EVs could charge in record time and displace the category champions currently based on 800-volt architectures (Kia EV6, Porsche Taycan, etc.).

Rivian still needs to be able to make money by selling more cars and losing less money so we can see how these technologies will appear on the road.

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