So the word on the street is that Tesla is having a difficult time making the dry electrode for the 4680 cells. Keep in mind, dry electrode coating was one of the key breakthroughs Tesla touted on Battery Day that would allow 4680 to achieve the impressive specs presented.

2/ $TSLA acquired Maxwell Technologies for its dry battery electrode (DBE) tech. This process is why battery experts have been skeptical of Tesla's ability to produce the 4680 cells with the claimed specs. EnPower, a company specializing in battery electrode tech, said of 4680:

3/ Even Elon said Maxwell's process was only "proof of concept", and was quick to clarify how difficult scaling this novel technology for volume production would be.

4/ Drew introduced electrode coating as, "...one of the most important processes...where it all begins," and showed impressive specs a dry coating process could enable for improvements in cell costs, energy density, discharge rates, cyclability, factory footprint, etc.

5/ Tesla's unfilled job postings for the Maxwell laboratory in San Diego suggest just how much difficulty Tesla may be having in actually producing the dry electrode, even before attempting to scale 4680.

6/ The roles Tesla has yet to fill seem critical to the electrode process, and suggest Tesla cannot find the talent (after all, there is a shortage of these engineers in the U.S.), and/or the technology is still in early lab testing.

See: "invent" in job description

7/ This reaffirms our concerns re: Tesla's ambitious battery production goals we have raised since Battery Day.

This doesn't mean Tesla is doomed, but 4680 isn't exactly around the corner. Again, batteries are hard. https://twitter.com/Real_Jack_Shea/status/1352732763594641411?s=20

8/ And here's more confirmation that just came out. https://twitter.com/TeslaPodcast/status/1370087888352862219?s=20