Trainee reporter Wen Yan
On the afternoon of April 25, CATL released the world's first new lithium iron phosphate battery with a range of 1000km and 4C overcharging characteristics - Shenxing PLUS.
In addition, CATL will further expand the circle of supercharging friends, and has officially launched the construction of the Shenxing supercharging network, which will build the largest supercharging service platform in China.
It is reported that CATL will work with industry partners such as Huawei, Star Charging, Cloud Fast Charging, and Shudao New Energy to provide the most convenient and affordable car experience for more car owners equipped with Shenxing super-rechargeable batteries, and launch the industry's first Shenxing Car Owners Club.
Another breakthrough in supercharging technology
Shenxing PLUS has two outstanding features, one is the increase in energy density, and the other is the improvement of supercharging capacity.
With the double breakthrough of materials and structure, the energy density of the Shenxing battery system broke through the 200Wh/kg mark for the first time, reaching 205Wh/kg, making it possible for the vehicle to have a range of more than 1000km.
At the same time, Shenxing PLUS can replenish 600km of battery life in 10 minutes of charging, truly realizing "1 km in 1 second".
CATL's "Shenxing Super Rechargeable Battery" launched in August 2023 is the world's first 4C super-rechargeable battery that uses lithium iron phosphate materials and can achieve large-scale mass production, which can replenish the range of 400 kilometers in 10 minutes.
It can be seen that the Shenxing PLUS battery is based on the "Shenxing super rechargeable battery" to further improve the product performance.
According to public information, the current overcharging is roughly divided into two technical directions, one is high-current DC overcharging, and the other is high-voltage DC overcharging. The unit used to measure the charging and discharging rate of the power battery is "C", 1C to 4C represents that the power can be fully charged in 60 minutes, 30 minutes, 20 minutes, and 15 minutes, and the mainstream charging rate of various car companies is currently 1C to 2C.
"The speed of innovation determines who is the leader in the industry. Wu Kai, chief scientist of CATL, said at the meeting. The reporter noted that Wu Kai previously introduced CATL's breakthroughs in battery research and development, including safety, battery life, energy replenishment speed, performance stability under harsh working conditions and harsh temperatures, etc.
Promote the full entry into the era of supercharging
At present, major giants in the field of new energy have successively established supercharging alliances.
On April 24, Huawei Digital Power joined hands with car companies, charging operators, and industry partners to establish the Supercharging Alliance. Among them, the first 11 car companies to join include: AVATAR, BAIC, BYD, Great Wall, GAC, Hezhong, JAC, Li Auto, Chery, Celis, and Xpeng.
CATL revealed that the company will build the largest supercharging service platform in China, join hands with industry partners such as Huawei, Star Charging, Cloud Fast Charging, and Shudao New Energy, and will launch the industry's first Shenxing Car Owner Club.
CATL will rely on its global after-sales service system and more than 600 offline physical service stores, covering 31 provincial-level administrative regions and 271 prefecture-level cities, to provide a full range of services such as roadside assistance, battery testing and maintenance for Shenxing car owners.
In Wu Kai's view, the best way to further expand the new energy vehicle market is to develop super fast charging, shorten the charging time, and effectively solve the user's anxiety about energy replenishment.
Previously, CATL took the lead in completing the layout of new industrial ecosystems such as storage, charging and inspection intelligent charging stations, electric ships, electric intelligent unmanned mines, and battery swapping for heavy trucks.
At the same time, CATL has improved the value chain of the whole life cycle of batteries by creating new business models such as flexible rental and purchase of batteries, convenient battery swap operation, and closed-loop recycling based on the vehicle-electricity separation mode.
On March 25, Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL, said that CATL and Tesla are cooperating to develop batteries with faster charging speeds. The two companies are working together on battery technologies such as new electrochemical structures with the aim of speeding up charging.
It is reported that CATL will integrate super-charging battery products, super-charging network platforms and super-charging vehicle owner services to create a complete closed-loop ecology of supercharging, and promote the new energy vehicle industry to fully enter the supercharging era at the speed of supercharging.
Important progress has been made in downstream applications
Gao Huan, CTO of CATL's domestic passenger car division, said that CATL's Shenxing Battery has launched 6 models and will continue to launch more than 50 new vehicles in 2024.
CATL previously said on the interactive platform that Shenxing super rechargeable batteries have confirmed cooperation with car companies such as GAC, Chery, AVA, Nezha, Jihu, and VOYAH, and are expected to be installed in the first half of 2024.
In response to the condensed matter battery that has attracted much attention, Wu Kai revealed at the meeting that the condensed matter battery equipped with CATL in 2024 has successfully made its first flight in the verification machine of aircraft above the ton level.
At the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2023, CATL released a condensed matter battery, focusing on high specific energy + high safety, with a single energy density of up to 500Wh/kg. In July 2023, Wu Kai revealed that CATL has mass production capacity for condensed matter batteries.
On April 3, 2024, CATL said on the interactive platform that the company's condensed matter battery is in the cooperative development of a civil electric manned aircraft project, implementing aviation-grade standards and tests to meet aviation-grade safety and quality requirements.
After the release of condensed matter batteries, CATL entered the aviation field by investment.
Tianyancha shows that on July 19, 2023, COMAC Times (Shanghai) Airlines Co., Ltd. was established, and its shareholders include CATL, Shanghai Jiaotong University Enterprise Development Group Co., Ltd., and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (hereinafter referred to as "COMAC").
It is reported that COMAC is the main body of the implementation of the national large aircraft major special medium and large passenger aircraft project, and is also the main carrier for the overall development of trunk aircraft and regional aircraft and the realization of the industrialization of civil aircraft in the mainland, and has completed the production and delivery of ARJ21 new regional jet airliners and C919 large passenger aircraft.
In addition, CATL previously revealed that it will launch a vehicle-grade application version of condensed matter batteries.
Editor: Captain
Review: Xu Wen