A newly published Tesla patent describes folding an electrode foil edge into a continuous microscopic hem instead of cutting thousands of individual tabs or fingers. As the battery cell is wound, the folds connect to create a uniform full-edge current path while potentially eliminating several tabbing, notching, laser-cutting, and debris-handling production steps.
Simplifying battery manufacturing could reduce factory complexity while preserving efficient current collection.
Tesla looked at battery manufacturing and said: Have we tried folding it?
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