The Shenxing Battery will be mass-produced by the end of 2023 and available in the first quarter of 2024, allowing vehicles to get up to 700 kilometers of range.
CATL has unveiled a new battery that supports ultra-fast charging to aim for a bigger share of the lower-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) market.
The Chinese power battery giant unveiled the battery, called the Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery, at a launch event today, saying it is the world's first LFP battery to support 4C charging.
C refers to the charging multiplier of the battery, and 4C means that the battery can theoretically be fully charged in a quarter of an hour.
The Shenxing Battery can get 400 kilometers of range in 10 minutes of charging time, CATL said at today's launch.
Currently, lithium-ion batteries mainly include Li-ion ternary batteries and LFP batteries, with the former typically having higher energy density and higher cost, and the latter having lower energy density, lower cost and poorer performance at low temperatures.
CATL said Shenxing Battery has improved performance at low temperatures, and can be charged to 80 percent in 30 minutes even at temperatures as low as -10°C.
Supported by CATL's in-house technologies, including an ultra-high conductivity electrolyte formulation, Shenxing Battery can enable an EV to achieve a range of up to 700 kilometers, the company said.
The Shenxing Battery will be mass-produced by the end of 2023 and available in the first quarter of 2024, when customers will be able to buy cars powered by the battery, CATL said.
This is the latest battery product released by CATL, as battery technology advances rapidly.
On June 23, 2022, CATL unveiled the Qilin Battery. Zeekr's Zeekr 001 is already being offered with a version of the battery pack with a range of over 1,000 km.
It is worth noting that the Qilin Battery is CATL's innovation in battery pack structure and does not involve a chemical system, meaning that the battery can be based on either Li-ion ternary or LFP cells. The Qilin Battery, which achieves a range of 1,000 kilometers, apparently uses Li-ion ternary battery cells.
On April 19, CATL unveiled its Condensed Battery on the second day of the Shanghai auto show, saying that the energy density of a single cell is as high as 500 Wh/kg.
CATL provided little information about the Condensed Battery, but it appears to involve both chemical system and structural innovations.
CATL's Condensed Battery is expected to be used in electric airplanes and could also be used in electric vehicles, and a version for EVs will be ready for mass production within the year, it said previously.
Both the Qilin Battery and Condensed Battery have higher costs, with the Zeekr 001's version using an ultra-long-range version of the Qilin Battery costing about 100,000 yuan ($14,000) more than the regular version.
For Shenxing Battery, CATL is targeting the affordable market, especially given that it does not dominate the LFP market.
CATL hopes to make Shenxing Battery available for every electric vehicle through continuous technology optimization and constant cost reduction, the company said today.
CATL is China's largest battery maker, with 13.47 GWh of power batteries installed in China in July, ranking first with a 41.79 percent share, according to the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).
In the Li-ion ternary battery market, CATL ranked first in July with a 62.57 percent share, with an installed volume of 6.61 GWh.
However, CATL lagged behind BYD in the LFP battery market.
BYD installed 9.35 GWh of LFP batteries in July, accounting for a 43.18 percent share of the LFP market, according to the CABIA.
CATL had an installed base of 6.86 GWh in the LFP battery market in July, ranking second with a 31.69 percent share.
($1 = RMB 7.2923)
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