As other automakers have launched competing electric cars, Tesla has managed to maintain an advantage in several key areas, including batteries.

Sandy Munro, of Munro & Associates, has been conducting a teardown of a Tesla Model Y. This time, he tackled the battery pack.

Munro's previous top-level conclusion was that the battery pack largely carried over from the Model 3, with some cost cutting measures.

Taking a closer look at the Model 3 battery pack, Munro also compared its construction to that of battery packs from other automakers. The Tesla battery pack consists of individual cylindrical cells glued together, with framework running between rows of cells and on the outer edges.

An alternative is the prismatic cell arrangement produced by Samsung, and used in the BMW i3. This places cells inside a box-like case, which is less effective at dissipating heat than the Tesla design, Munro said.

The Chevrolet Bolt EV's LG battery pack uses pouch-type cells, which connect end to end. These are the most expensive cell design, according to Munro, followed by the prismatic-cell configuration.

The Tesla cylindrical-cell configuration is much cheaper than either alternative, and quicker to manufacture, Munro said. It's also the most efficient "as far as space and weight is concerned," he explained.

What's more, individual cells in the Tesla battery pack are relatively low-voltage, so losing a handful of cells does not noticeably impact performance, Munro said.

Munro isn't the only one making EV teardown videos to show what's inside battery packs. You can get a closer look at the Bolt EV pack, or a view of the Tesla Model S, with a quick scroll through YouTube.

Teardowns like these have been done by consulting and engineering firms for decades, with key findings sold to automakers to help them stay competitive. In the YouTube era, they've also become useful resources to explain how things work—and in some cases, to provide critiques to the original automaker for how it might do things better.

Sign up to get the latest green car and environmental news, delivered to your inbox daily!

I agree to receive emails from Green Car Reports. I understand that I can unsubscribe at any time. Privacy Policy.

The changes apply to both the R1T and R1S. Customers have until September 1 to reconfigure their pre-orders or cancel them.

The tri-motor Air Sapphire could beat the Tesla Model S Plaid in nearly every performance metric. And versus other Airs, it sacrifices no interior or cargo space.

The Ford Mustang is going fully electric—in a few years. BMW is looking at four-motor electric M performance cars. Lincoln looked in the far-off future with a fresh concept. And Acura is calling its EV the ZDX. This and more, here at Green Car Reports. BMW announced that it’s testing a...

Two motors power each axle, meaning each wheel gets its own individual motor, in a special BMW i4 M50 development mule.

The Ford Mustang Hybrid was originally announced in 2017 and was slated to debut in 2020 on the current-generation Mustang platform.

Lincoln's radical design statement shows what an autonomous electric vehicle from the brand might look like.

It also confirmed upcoming Type S performance variants of the ZDX that “will continue to put the driver experience first in the electrified future.”

Dodge goes loud-and-proud with its electric muscle car. Tesla tops a study of the charging experience. Acura shows how its design draws out in EVs. Evidence mounts for BMW shifting its battery strategy. And we distill the list of eligible vehicles for the EV tax credit down to a very few. This and...

EVs are coming to the Acura brand, and the Precision EV Concept shows the shape of them—wrapped in an entirely new interface for the automated-driving era.

The survey giant also noted that charging-hardware reliability is becoming an issue, with an increasing portion of respondents pointing to malfunctioning equipment.

EVE has signed contracts to be BMW's primary supplier of battery cells in Europe for a new line of EVs debuting in 2025, according to the report.

The Charger Daytona SRT has retro styling, a multi-speed transmission, and "bone shaking" fake exhaust sounds that electrify the classic muscle car. It's fair to say Tesla and Lucid fans aren't the target buyer.