On the eve of the Beijing Auto Show, CATL held its annual Tech Day and unveiled four new battery systems at the same time. An innovation stretch that reached from a record-breaking LFP cell for mass-market EVs to a sodium-ion battery heading for production later this year. The salvo is a direct response to BYD’s Blade Battery 2.0 launch last month, and on several fronts, it goes further than that.
The timing was deliberate. Less than 24 hours before the world’s biggest auto show opens its doors in Beijing, CATL gathered the press for what turned into the most technically dense battery event of the year so far.
A reply to BYD
Four new systems. Four different chemistries. But one clear message: the world’s largest battery manufacturer, which held over 48% of the global power battery market in early 2026, was not going to let BYD’s recent Flash Charging announcement go unanswered.
Last month, its strongest competitor launched Blade Battery 2.0 with considerable fanfare: charging from 10% to 70% in five minutes and from 10% to 97% in nine. CATL could not leave that stone unturned, demonstrating the blistering pace at which battery innovation is forging ahead in China.
LFP that charges in six minutes
The centerpiece of the evening was the third-generation Shenxing, an LFP battery designed explicitly for ultra-fast charging. Its headline figures: 10% to 80% state of charge in 3 minutes and 44 seconds (!), and a virtually complete charge from 10% to 98% in 6 minutes and 27 seconds. That’s three minutes faster than BYD’s Blade flagship, which is an eternity in charging terms.
In cold weather, at -30°C, it reaches 98% from a starting point of 20% in 9 minutes, without requiring a specialized charging station. That last detail matters: CATL’s answer to the cold-weather charging problem is a pulse self-heating system built into the battery itself, which raises cell temperature quickly enough to enable ultra-fast charging on any standard pile.
The electrical reason behind those speeds is an internal resistance that CATL claims is the lowest of any ultra-fast charging battery on the market: 0.25 milliohms, roughly 50% below the industry average, according to CATL. Complementing that is improved thermal management efficiency (up 20%), while multi-point temperature monitoring tracks each cell individually during the charge process.
Lightweight revolution
The second announcement escalates the ambitions. The third-generation Qilin is a ternary battery (NCM) that matches the Shenxing’s charging speed: the same 10-80% in under four minutes. But its standout feature is the weight shaving: a beefy 125 kWh pack weighs only 625 kg. According to CATL this represents a 255 kg reduction, or a 29% improvement, compared to an LFP pack of equivalent capacity.
That weight benefit has measurable benefits: CATL cites a 0.6-second improvement in 0-100 kph acceleration, a 1.44-meter reduction in 100-0 braking distance, an 8% increase in moose test speed, and a 6.5% reduction in body roll. Chassis components are projected to last 40% longer, and tire life is projected to rise by 30%. Cabin headroom gains 18 mm from the reduced battery volume.
Alongside this, CATL unveiled a condensed-matter variant at 350 Wh/kg. Other manufacturers typically call this a semi-solid-state or liquid-solid battery. The pack weight stays below 650 kg. CATL said the technology is already deployed in an eVTOL aircraft from AutoFlight, and could enable an executive-class sedan to cover 1,500 km on a single charge, or a full-size SUV to reach 1,000 km.
One remark to bear in mind: BYD competes strongly in the LFP space, but holds no equivalent product in the ternary segment (a chemistry containing three metals), where CATL commands more than 80% of the market.
An EREV battery that makes the range extender redundant
During the press briefing, CATL noted that in 2025, over 95% of EREV models sold in China with more than 300 km of pure electric range were equipped with first-generation Freevoy batteries. The second-generation targets the same segment, and comes in three chemistry configurations: standard LFP, a proprietary LFP-NCM hybrid, and full NCM ternary. The pure electric range spans 500 to 600 km, depending on configuration, and all variants include 4C fast charging as standard.
The practical significance of that 600 km figure is illustrated by CATL’s own usage data. In vehicles with less than 400 km of pure electric range, the combustion range extender activates in approximately 15% of journeys. At 600 km, that figure drops below 1% – meaning the petrol generator is, for most users, purely a safety net. Combined electric and combustion range exceeds 2,000 km.
From lab to factory floor
The fourth announcement may be the most consequential over the longer term. CATL confirmed that its sodium-ion battery, branded Naxtra, will enter mass production in the fourth quarter of 2026. Sodium-ion cells carry significant structural advantages. They perform well at extreme cold, their raw material supply chain is substantially simpler (because they contain no lithium, cobalt, or nickel), and their expected cost is around 30% below that of LFP, which is already considerably less expensive than NMC.
The trade-off is lower energy density: CATL’s current sodium cells achieve approximately 175 Wh/kg, making initial applications easier for smaller, more affordable vehicles. Though the first mass-produced sodium-ion passenger EV, a joint development between CATL and Changan, is an executive sedan: the Nevo A06.
CATL projects that sodium-ion batteries will eventually replace 30% to 40% of the existing battery market. It’s a transformation rather than a niche, and it remains beyond doubt that the Chinese battery manufacturer is putting al engineering efforts in place to secure its dominant position.
