LG Energy Solution is reported to be preparing a cylindrical cell it has never put on a product roadmap, and to be building the first line for it in Poland. The customer, according to South Korean trade outlet The Elec, is Mercedes-Benz.
Neither company has confirmed it. An LG Energy Solution official acknowledged the company is weighing further investment in Poland but said it is "difficult to confirm specific customers". Treat everything below as reported, not announced.
The format is the interesting part
The cell is designated 46100: 46 mm in diameter, 100 mm tall. That places it in the 46-series family Tesla opened with the 4680 — the same 46 mm diameter, 20 mm shorter.
| Cell | Diameter | Height | Used by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla 4680 | 46 mm | 80 mm | Tesla (Cybertruck, Semi, Model Y) |
| 46100 | 46 mm | 100 mm | Reportedly Mercedes, from 2028 |
BMW made the same diameter choice for Gen6, swapping the prismatic cells of Gen5 for 46 mm cylindrical cells it buys in and packs at Irlbach-Strasskirchen.
The Elec's point is that the 46100 was not in LG Energy Solution's previously disclosed line-up at all. A cell maker does not add a height to a standardised family speculatively; it adds one because a customer's pack geometry asked for it.
Diameter is what the manufacturing equipment is built around, so staying at 46 mm keeps the winding and assembly tooling. Height is the cheap axis to vary. A taller can holds more energy per cell, which cuts the number of cells, welds and monitoring channels in a pack — the parts count that actually drives cost at the module level.
Poland, 2027, 2028
The reported sequence is that LG Energy Solution sets up the line at its Wrocław plant during 2027 and begins deliveries in 2028. Wrocław is the company's European manufacturing base and already supplies several European carmakers; a smaller facility at Ochang in South Korea is said to be handling the initial adaptation work.
Mercedes has signed four long-term supply agreements with LG Energy Solution since October 2024, including a 107 GWh contract in September 2025. The Elec values the September and December 2025 agreements together at roughly 17 trillion won. The 46100 would sit on top of that relationship rather than replace it.
Why this matters to a Tesla owner
Two reasons, and neither is about Mercedes.
The first is that the 46-series is becoming an industry standard rather than a Tesla format. Tesla spent years arguing that a large cylindrical cell was the right cost answer, and built the 4680 line at Giga Texas to prove it. A rival ordering a 46-series variant in volume — for cars built and sold in Europe — is the clearest evidence yet that the argument was won, and it means Tesla's cell advantage narrows to execution rather than concept.
The second is supply. LG Energy Solution is already a Tesla supplier: it starts making LFP cells for Tesla's Megapack at Lansing in August 2027. European 46-series capacity at Wrocław is capacity Tesla's European operations could in principle draw on too, and a second high-volume customer for the format is what makes that capacity exist.
What would confirm it
A line investment disclosure from LG Energy Solution, or a Mercedes platform announcement naming a cylindrical cell. Mercedes' next-generation electric architecture has not been specified publicly at cell level, and until one of those lands, the 46100 is a reported part number with a plausible home.