(Yicai Global) Aug. 24 -- Tesla dismissed a rumor claiming the US electric vehicle maker plans to equip its China-made models with new batteries, including the 4680-format cells.

The speculations are just rumors to deliberately mislead consumers, Tesla China said on its Weibo account late yesterday. The people responsible for spreading such information will be held accountable, the Chinese arm of the California-based carmaker added.

Tesla will soon launch a new Model 3, which will use M3P batteries supplied by Contemporary Amperex Technology to achieve at least a 10 percent improvement in battery life, some media recently reported.

The company unveiled its 4680 battery cell, developed by Japan’s Panasonic, in September 2020. The cell is said to increase the range of Tesla EVs by 16 percent and lower their cost by 14 percent. Tesla will achieve a production capacity of 100 gigawatt-hours by 2022 to support at least one million cars, it said earlier.

Tesla plans to achieve mass production of the 4680 cells by the end of this year, but given the many new technologies in it, it may be difficult, founder Elon Musk said at Tesla’s 2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting in early August.

The 4680-type battery remains under testing, and its mass production will start in April 2023, Panasonic noted. Tesla began small batch production of the cell at its Kato Road factory in Fremont, California, and the Austin Gigafactory in Texas.

Tesla China delivered a record high of 78,900 vehicles in June, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association. In the first half of the year, the EV maker’s deliveries totaled 295,000.

Editor: Futura Costaglione