E-vehicle battery giant CATL has unveiled a new battery that is able to provide 400 kilometres of range on a charge time of only 10 minutes.
The Chinese manufacturer, which is a major battery supplier to Tesla, said its latest product aims to solve electric vehicles’ charging and range limitations. At a launch briefing on Wednesday, Gao Han, chief technology officer of CATL’s e-car division, said the battery has been named Shenxing or “god-like movement”.
With the range that the new battery purports to offer, vehicles powered by Shenxing can travel a distance equivalent to driving from New York to Boston after just 10 minutes of fast charging. CATL said mass production of the battery is expected to get underway by the end of this year, with shipping to begin in 2024.
Shenxing claims to be “the world’s first 4C superfast charging LFP battery”. LFP stands for lithium iron phosphate, a type of battery chemistry that Tesla widely adapted in 2021 for its shorter-range cars in place of nickel-cobalt-aluminum.
Boost for LFP battery technology
China strongly advocates for LFP technology, led by such home-grown renewable energy heavyweights as CATL, which currently holds the top position in the global EV battery market with a remarkable 35% market share in Q1, according to research firm SNE. LFP batteries are well-known for their affordability and chemical stability despite having a lower energy density compared to other battery chemistries, which can be a drag on the range or EVs.
Fujian-based CATL’s has shown remarkable growth in recent years helped by a recent EV boom in China. But, in a post-Covid economic downturn in China, the EV industry is slowing as government subsidies shrink and consumption contracts. Meanwhile, the battery manufacturer faces heated competition from Chinese EV giant BYD, which makes its own battery. In the first quarter of this year, BYD’s share of the global EV battery market grew to 16.2%, trailing CATL in second place.