Giga Texas ramps 4680 dry electrode cells

Tesla said on January 28, 2026 that Austin is now producing 4680 battery electrodes with a dry process on both sides of the cell. (tesla.com) In plain terms, a lithium-ion cell is built from two coated metal foils: the anode and the cathode. Most factories spread those coatings as a wet slurry and then bake off solvent in long drying ovens. (tesla.com) A dry-electrode line tries to skip that solvent-heavy coating step. Tesla’s own recruiting pages describe engineers working on mixing equipment and dry battery processes for anode and cathode production in Austin. (tesla.com 1) (tesla.com 2) The new part is the scope of Tesla’s statement. In its fourth-quarter 2025 update, the company wrote that it “now produce[s] dry-electrode for 4680 cells with both anode and cathode made in Austin,” a sharper claim than earlier references to dry-electrode work. (tesla.com) Austin matters because Giga Texas is Tesla’s global headquarters, its U.S. Model Y factory and the home of Cybertruck. Tesla has also said the site is preparing Cybercab lines, tying battery manufacturing choices to what the factory can build next. (tesla.com 1) (tesla.com 2) Tesla’s April 22, 2026 first-quarter update said it had “begun ramping lithium, cathode and LFP production” across new battery and materials factories. That suggests the Austin cell effort now sits inside a broader push to regionalize battery supply in Texas and Nevada. (tesla.com) The company paired the dry-electrode disclosure with another supply-chain detail: domestic cathode material in Texas is expected to begin production in 2026. Tesla also said its Nevada lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, lines are due to begin production in 2026. (tesla.com 1) (tesla.com 2) Tesla has been hiring in Austin for 4680 cell quality, cathode engineering and production-equipment roles that describe moving new cell processes from prototype to full production. Those postings do not give output figures or yield data, but they line up with a factory still in ramp mode rather than one declaring a finished endpoint. (tesla.com) (tesla.com) (tesla.com) What Tesla has not published in these filings is just as important: no current Austin 4680 yield, no annual gigawatt-hour run rate and no breakdown of which Texas-built vehicles are using the newly described dry cathode output. The official record, for now, is the production claim itself and the broader 2026 ramp around it. (tesla.com) (tesla.com)