Zeekr, an EV brand owned by the parent company of Polestar and Volvo cars, has unveiled a new lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack that can be fast-charged ultra-rapidly, adding 500 km of range in just 15 minutes.
The new battery pack was revealed this week by the company with the news being shared on the company’s Weibo page as well as reports from cnevpost.
This LFP battery pack will offer up to 83.7% volume utilisation. As a comparison, an average pack with the same chemistry delivers around 66% volume utilisation.
It will be the first mass-produced LFP battery pack that will harness the 800 V architecture while delivering up to 500 kW charging capability.
The combination of these factories will help customers experience very quick charging sessions. Zeekr says 500 km of range can be added in just 15 minutes, making it even quicker than the Hyundai/Kia’s fast-charging claims of getting 10-80% range in 18 minutes.
According to the company, the new battery pack was developed and produced in-house by Zeekr. The product involves over 1,000 research and development team members and spanned a development cycle of over three years.
A key part of the research team’s goal was to make it one of the safest battery packs in the market. This included testing for how the battery pack endured heat. In a 700 C fire test, the battery did not catch fire even after 240 seconds.
Zeekr’s new battery pack is already in mass production and will make its debut in the upcoming Zeekr 007 electric sedan. This new vehicle’s orders will open before the end of the month with customer deliveries starting just days later on 1st January 2024.
LFP batteries are used in many of the many popular EV models in Australia. These include cars such as Tesla Model 3 RWD, Tesla Model Y RWD, BYD Atto 3 and MG4 51 kWh variant, to name a few.
One advantage of LFP batteries is that they can be charged up to 100%, allowing drivers to use the full capacity of the pack daily.
Zeekr is spearheading global expansion into multiple new markets, after delivering the first cars into The Netherlands this week as well as plans for the company to IPO (initial public offering) in the US.
Innovation in battery technology will further support the attractiveness of its products in not only its local market in China but also in Europe and beyond in 2024.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.