The new generation Shenxing Plus battery allows electric cars to reach 1000 km of theoretical autonomy, and recharges in just 10 minutes. CATL, the world number 1 in electric car batteries, has just unveiled this new technology on the sidelines of the Beijing show.
The range and charging speed of an electric car are among the main purchasing criteria. The good news is that technology is evolving at great speed in the field. A few months ago, CATL, the sector leader, unveiled its Shenxing technology. An affordable battery, using cobalt-free LFP (lithium iron phosphate) chemistry, with a range of 700 km and rapid charging to recover 400 km of range in 10 minutes.
1,000 km of range and ultra-fast charging
At the Beijing show, the world’s number 1 battery unveils Shenxing technology More on https://twitter.com/catl_official/status/1783424316245148107. This is an improved version, still based on LFP chemistry. But this time, the maximum range is increased to 1,000 km. No magic, however: if the energy density changes a little, this autonomy (theoretical, on the Chinese CLTC cycle) is enabled by the use of a larger capacity battery.
Fast charging is not really evolving. CATL announces 600 km of autonomy recovered in 10 minutes (i.e. 1 km per second) compared to 400 km for the old version. But in both cases, 10 minutes are needed to go from 20 to 80%, with a charge rate of 4C.
Which means that a 100 kWh battery will have a maximum charging power of 400 kW, both with the old generation and the new one. In other words, the gain in fast charging is only to be found in the greater capacity of the batteries, allowing for a higher average charging power. The maximum power does not change.
Better energy density and AI on the agenda
To succeed in packing more electricity into its battery, CATL has changed the energy density. It is the amount of energy stored in a given volume or weight. Here, this value increases by 7% to reach 205 Wh / kg. This is a record for an LFP battery, since BYD’s are around 150 Wh/kg at the moment.
Charging in cold weather has not been forgotten, as CATL announces a halving of charging time with an external temperature of -20 degrees Celsius. Battery power (sent to the engine) increases by 50% in cold weather. This avoids having to use energy to heat the battery and maintain it at a high temperature.
To improve the charging speed, CATL offers an artificial intelligence model, capable of best optimizing the charging curve, and avoiding threshold effects, which are based on the battery charge rate. Enough to shorten the recharge time, without affecting the maximum power recovered by the battery.
Cars with a 1000 km range will multiply
Finally, with this Shenxing Plus battery, CATL proves that LFP technology has not finished evolving. Let us remember that the Chinese giant announced the Shenxing only eight months ago, and the Qilin 3.0 in June 2022. This is a battery with 1000 km of autonomy and a recharge in 10 minutes from 10 to 80 % using the more expensive NMC chemistry, with an energy density of 255 Wh/kg. These two batteries are already available on the Zeekr 001, but also in the Xiaomi SU7 depending on the version.
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The Shenxing Plus will therefore allow manufacturers to offer electric cars with a theoretical range of 1000 km that are more affordable than current models, such as the Nio ET7.
