- Chinese EV battery manufacturer, CATL, has revealed its latest generation of battery cells, called ‘Shenxing’ – which aim to offer even more rapid charging speeds than the platform unveiled by BYD just a couple of weeks ago.
- CATL’s new battery cell will add 520 kilometres of range in just five minutes, beating BYD’s previous industry record of 400 kilometres in five minutes.
- The new battery cell is making its way into more than 67 EV models across various manufacturers, by the end of 2025.
CATL beats BYD’s battery charging record with new Shenxing cell
The 520 kilometres (323 miles) of range added in five minutes translates to a typical 0-80% charge time of 15 minutes (or 2.5 kilometres every second), which will allow upcoming EVs equipped with the Shenxing battery cells to become some of the fastest charging EVs on the market. These impressive speeds were also maintained in harsh temperatures – with a 5-80% charge still taking place in just 15 minutes, at an ambient temperature of -10°C. The maximum charging speed achieved, to allow for this impressive time, stands at over 1,300 kW – meaning that public charging stations will still need to be up to scratch to take full advantage of these new battery cells.
The achievement comes just several weeks after BYD took the record for the fastest-charging EV batteries, unveiling its Super e-Platform, which was capable of adding around 400 kilometres of range in a comparatively fast five minutes. Crucially, with these new batteries both from BYD and CATL, a rapid recharge can take place in the same time it would take to fill up a fossil-fuelled car – breaking down a key perceived barrier of convenience for potential EV buyers. So far, BYD’s ultra-rapid charging platform will exclusively serve its own EVs. CATL plans to sell its technology to other OEMs, as shown by the 67-plus electric models it claims will launch with its new cells by the end of the year.
Evidently, however, it’s not just ever-faster charging batteries that CATL believes will play a part in a fully-electric future.
Its recent partnership with Chinese oil giant Sinopec, to build 10,000 EV battery swapping stations across China, shows the firm’s confidence that battery swapping will be another key part of EV ownership, alongside ultra-rapid battery charging.
Alongside the reveal of this new ultra-rapid charging battery cell, CATL unveiled two more battery technologies which it hopes will revolutionise the EV space. This includes its new ‘Freevoy Dual-Power’ battery, which will offer a range of up to 1,500 kilometres when fitted to streamlined sedan bodytypes. The third product revealed was its first mass-produced battery to adopt sodium-ion technology rather than conventional lithium-ion. Sodium-ion batteries provide much improved cold weather performance, which could make them a key battery type for certain target markets.
