A clear trend is emerging in the battery market toward selecting battery form factors based on application and product characteristics. The range of products using batteries is expanding beyond EVs to include LEVs, commercial EVs, heavy equipment, robots, and future mobility. As a result, the required battery capacity, power output, charging performance, and safety vary from product to product. Against this backdrop, the 46-Series battery, a type of cylindrical battery, is gaining significant attention.
The 46-Series battery is a next-generation cylindrical battery being developed to retain the structural stability and production efficiency of conventional cylindrical batteries, while increasing the energy and power output of a single cell. Let’s take a closer look at what the 46-Series battery is, its different types, why it’s drawing attention, and developments in LG Energy Solution’s 46-Series battery technology and business.
What Is the 46-Series Battery?
The 46-Series battery is a cylindrical battery with a 46 mm diameter. Here, a cylindrical battery refers to a battery form factor in which electrodes are wound and placed inside a cylindrical metal can a structure well suited for standardization and mass production.
The most common cylindrical battery formats are 18650 and 21700. 18650 refers to a cylindrical battery measuring 18 mm in diameter and 65 mm in height, while 21700 refers to one measuring 21 mm in diameter and 70 mm in height. The 46-Series is a large-format cylindrical battery with an increased diameter. It is designed to preserve the strengths of conventional cylindrical batteries while delivering superior performance and greater design efficiency in a larger form factor. These characteristics are among the reasons the 46-Series is gaining attention as a next-generation cylindrical battery.
*View: A Better Life with Batteries – The 18650 Battery, the Standard of Cylindrical Batteries
*View: A Better Life with Batteries – The 21700 Cylindrical Battery, an Emerging Dark Horse
How Are 46-Series Batteries Classified?
46-Series batteries are classified by height into formats such as 4680, 4695, and 46120. The first two digits, 46, indicate a 46 mm diameter, while the following digits indicate the battery’s height in mm. For example, the 4680 is a cylindrical battery with a 46 mm diameter and 80 mm height. The 4695 has a 46 mm diameter and 95 mm height, while the 46120 has a 46 mm diameter and 120 mm height.
In other words, the 46-Series is a lineup of batteries that share a 46 mm diameter while varying in height.
Why the 46-Series Battery Is Gaining Attention
The 46-Series battery is gaining attention because it retains the structural advantages of conventional cylindrical batteries while offering greater energy capacity, allowing it to accommodate a wide range of product design needs.
With a larger form factor than conventional cylindrical batteries, the 46-Series battery has greater energy capacity per cell. Compared to the 21700 battery, the 46-Series battery can deliver more than five times the energy at the cell level, making it suitable for product categories that require high-capacity batteries.
As energy capacity per cell increases, fewer cells are needed to achieve the same battery pack capacity, enabling a more efficient battery pack structure. These characteristics make the 46-Series battery a strong fit for the electrification market, where demand for longer driving range, higher power output, and faster charging continues to grow.
The 46-Series battery also features a standardized 46 mm diameter, with a lineup of cells in different heights. Products such as the 4680, 4695, and 46120—each with a different height—allow LG Energy Solution to offer battery solutions tailored to customer needs and product characteristics.
The standardized cylindrical form factor also offers advantages in module and pack design. Various series and parallel configurations can be used to achieve the required voltage and capacity, and to deliver high performance within the same footprint. This design flexibility provides a foundation for expanding the 46-Series battery’s application beyond passenger and commercial EVs to LEVs, robots, future mobility, and other electrified product categories.
What Are LG Energy Solution’s Key 46-Series Battery Technologies?
The competitiveness of the 46-Series battery doesn’t come from simply making the cell bigger. As the energy capacity per cell increases, the right materials, processes, cell structure, and safety design become increasingly important for reliably achieving high energy performance.
To this end, LG Energy Solution is applying a range of key technologies to enhance the performance and safety of its 46-Series batteries.
1) High-Energy Material Technology: LG Energy Solution applies a ‘High-Nickel NCMA cathode material’ and a ‘high-efficiency silicon-based anode material’ to the 46-series battery. These material technologies help achieve high energy density. Higher energy density allows more energy to be stored in limited space, improving both driving range and space efficiency in EVs.
2) Innovative Cell Structure, Tabless Design: In cylindrical batteries, the structure that collects current from the electrodes has a significant impact on output performance and heat management. The tabless structure eliminates the upper and lower tabs of the jelly roll. This design boosts output performance and reduces heat generation, improving thermal management and contributing to stable performance in large-format cylindrical batteries.
3) Safety Design: As the 46-Series battery has a higher per-cell energy capacity, thermal management and structural stability are critical—not just at the cell level, but at the pack level as well. That’s why LG Energy Solution applies ‘CAS (Cell Array Structure)’ to enhance safety at the pack level.
CAS is a pack solution that optimizes the cell array structure, enabling various surface-cooling methods and strengthening structural rigidity. This helps efficiently manage heat inside the battery pack and increases resistance to external impact and structural deformation
In addition, ‘Directional Venting’ technology rapidly releases internally generated energy to the outside of the cell. This helps reduce cell resistance and enhance safety.
LG Energy Solution’s 46-Series Battery Business
LG Energy Solution is advancing its 46-Series battery business through global customer supply agreements and the establishment of production sites. At InterBattery 2025, the company unveiled its diverse 46-Series lineup along with its CAS solution, presenting its approach to the next-generation cylindrical battery market.
Alongside this, LG Energy Solution is securing supply agreements for the 46-Series battery. The company has agreed to supply U.S. EV maker Rivian with 67 GWh of 4695 batteries over five years. These batteries are set to be used in Rivian’s electric SUV model, the R2. The company has also signed a six-year agreement to supply Chinese automaker Chery Automobile with 8 GWh of 46-Series batteries for use in its key EV models.
Production infrastructure is being established in parallel. LG Energy Solution is pursuing mass production of the cylindrical 4680 battery at its Ochang plant, while in North America, it is developing its Arizona plant into a production site for 46-Series cylindrical batteries.
Through these efforts—from unveiling its 46-Series battery lineup to securing global supply agreements and establishing production sites—LG Energy Solution is accelerating the commercialization of its 46-Series batteries and strengthening its position in the next-generation cylindrical battery market.
Key Q&A
Q. What is a 46-Series battery?
The 46-Series battery is a family of next-generation cylindrical batteries with a standardized diameter of 46 mm. Specifications vary by height, with models including the 4680, 4695, and 46120.
Q. Why is the 46-Series battery gaining attention?
The 46-Series battery offers greater energy capacity per cell, helping meet growing demand for high-capacity, high-output batteries. It can deliver more than five times the energy of the 21700 battery and improves pack design efficiency by reducing the number of cells needed.
Q. What are LG Energy Solution’s key 46-Series battery technologies?
LG Energy Solution enhances the performance and safety of its 46-Series batteries through High-Ni NCMA cathode materials, high-efficiency silicon-based anode materials, a dry electrode process, a tabless structure, Directional Venting, and CAS, among other technologies.
Q. How is LG Energy Solution developing its 46-Series battery business?
LG Energy Solution is expanding its 46-Series battery portfolio around a lineup that includes the 4680, 4695, and 46120. Key business milestones include a 4695 battery supply agreement with Rivian, a 46-Series supply agreement with Chery Automobile, and the establishment of a production site in Arizona.
So far, we’ve looked at the 46-Series battery. By preserving the strengths of conventional cylindrical batteries while significantly enhancing performance, the 46-Series battery is emerging as a key option in the next-generation battery market. Keep an eye on how this advanced cylindrical battery shapes the future of the electrification market!
*View: Everything about Cylindrical Batteries, the Power Source of Future EV Transport
