China’s new ‘battery within a battery’ powers up EVs with mixed chemistries
CATL is pushing futuristic battery technologies into production at a time when US EV makers are struggling.
With its latest announcement of a ‘battery within a battery’ approach to meet the rigorous demands of electric vehicles (EV), Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) has proven why it manages to dominate the battery markets.
More importantly, CATL’s announcements are not plans that will roll out in the next 2-3 years, but technology is available to users now.
With a 38 percent market share, CATL is the dominant player in the EV battery segment. While being the most expensive component of an electric vehicle, the battery is also the most critical, since its performance determines how the vehicle performs over its lifetime.
Lithium-ion batteries have been the mainstay for batteries so far. But with their limitations coming to the fore, the race is now on to switch to more sustainable and reliable batteries.
Earlier this week, CATL announced its Naxtra-sodium ion batteries, with a lifespan of 10,000+ charge cycles. Lithium-ion batteries, conventionally used in EVs, have a maximum lifespan of 4,000 cycles and begin to see battery degradation. Thus, the Naxtra batteries will double the timeline before battery degradation creeps in.
While CATL has already put the Naxtra batteries into production, it also has more futuristic technology to offer users when they switch to EVs today.
The battery within a battery
Besides making sodium batteries mainstream, CATL combines them with lithium-ion batteries to maximize their benefits. Its Freevoy Dual-Power Battery system is a battery within a battery, mixing chemistries to adapt to the vehicle’s needs.
For instance, a sodium/lithium-ion battery combination can work in extremely cold regions where the sodium battery picks up the mantle for working in frigid conditions, with lithium taking over when the car is warm enough.
But the Freevoy system isn’t limiting itself there. A Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM) battery combo can deliver over 900 miles (1,500 km) of range while hitting over one megawatt of peak power. A lithium-lithium Freevoy combo could mix fast charging with low operation costs.
CATL goes a step further with Freevoy by introducing the self-forming anode in these batteries. Instead of shipping the battery with a specialized anode, the Freevoy battery builds the anode over the first few charges. According to the company, this results in a volumetric energy boost of 60 percent, packing more energy into these batteries.
CATL’s technological advances aren’t limited to newer battery options alone. For conventional lithium-ion battery offerings, CATL announced the Shenxing Gen 2 ultra-fast-charging. The first-generation Shenxing batteries offered 4C charging rates, meaning they could be charged in about 15 minutes.
With the Gen 2 batteries, CATL has amped up the charging rates to 12C, ensuring that the battery is charged in five minutes flat. This puts EVs on par with refueling a gas-powered vehicle. This needs to be taken with a pinch of salt since achieving this would take a 1,300 kW charger, which does not exist yet.
However, knowing CATL’s ambitious plans, they are likely working on rolling this out in China. With the ongoing tariff war, will these ever hit US shores? We do not know. But CATL is demonstrating its leadership position in the EV battery segment, and we are at the cusp of a battery revolution that will change EVs forever.
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China’s new ‘battery within a battery’ powers up EVs with mixed chemistries, source
