CATL’s Shenxing battery to offer 400 km in 10 minutes charging

On Wednesday, the world’s biggest EV battery maker, Chinese CATL, presented its newest LFP battery named ‘Shenxing’, offering economical fast charging of 400 kilometers of extra range in only ten minutes and a total range of 700 km.

CATL says it found the perfect balance of long-range and easy refueling, with EV charging taking no much longer time than filling up a classic car’s fuel tank today. Mass production will start in Q4 of this year, with the first EVs equipped with it showing up in early 2024.

Breakthrough in LFP technology

The Shenxing battery is touted as a breakthrough in the ‘cheaper’ LFP battery technology that gives short shrift to the typical shortcomings of LFP batteries, like low energy density and slow charging in sub-zero temperatures. This one can charge from 0 to 80% in 30 minutes at -10°C, CATL claims. Shenxing can charge to 80% SOC at room temperature in 10 minutes.

To accomplish that, it improved fully nano-crystallized cathode materials, a new superconducting and less fluid electrolyte, and an ultra-thin and safer separator. Using intelligent algorithms, CATL claims it has built a real-time fault testing system that can solve overheating problems by fast charging.

The world listens when CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd) announces a ‘breakthrough’. The Chinese company today provides 35% of the world’s EV batteries, including big names like Tesla, Ford, and Geely brands from Volvo to Zeekr, NIO or GAC, Mercedes and BMW, Toyota, and Hyundai, among others. Tesla is even CATL’s biggest client for use in its standard-range models.

1 000 km Quilin battery

Premium EV makers prefer nickel-cadmium-manganese batteries (NCM) for their higher energy density, up to 255 Wh/kg. Last year, CATL presented the production version of its third-generation cell-to-pack battery (CTP), called Qilin, offering a range of up to 1 000 km. Volvo’s sister brand, Zeekr, is one of the first to offer it.

No modules. No additional wiring. More battery for the same space. That’s cell-to-pack technology in a nutshell. These packs are much better at optimizing their volume and reaching higher energy densities.

Using that CTP technology, CATL’s LFP (lithium-ferro-phosphate) batteries reached a density of 160 Wh/kg, an improvement of 10 Wh on the best-performing LFP pack made by Chinese BYD. The latter, China’s and the world’s biggest EV manufacturer has the largest share in ‘cheaper’ LFP batteries, and CATL is forced somehow to catch up.

Devine speed

So now the Shenxing battery – meaning something like ‘Devine Speed’ in Chinese – is a new step for CATL to prove its supremacy. The goal is to start mass-producing it as soon as Q4 of this year and make the technology of so-called 4C superfast charging featured in expensive EVs to a broader public.

When you only need to charge 10 minutes for an additional 400 km, this comes closer to a classic tank top at a fuel station with a traditional combustion engine car. Range anxiety and long waiting times for EV charging limit acceptance with a broader public today.

CATL claims its new LFP battery “embodies the perfect balance of long-range and easy refueling”. Remember, though, that when a range of 400 km is promised in ten minutes, this is according to Chinese CLTP ratings, which tend to be 15 to 25% higher than European WLTP standards. But even if it is ‘only’ 300 km WLTP, that is three times more than average EVs today.