Chinese battery giant CATL has unveiled a new ultra-fast charging battery for light commercial vehicles that is supposedly capable of restoring 80 per cent charge in under 7 minutes.
According to a Chinese-language press release published Tuesday, as well as reports from respected local automotive outlets CnEVPost and CarNewsChina, CATL unveiled the new Tectrans II (or Tianxing II) ultra-fast charging battery on Monday.
It is designed specifically for light commercial vehicles (LCVs), and CATL believes its new Tectrans II is the first 8C rated battery for the logistics and commercial vehicle sector.
The battery’s 8C charge rate means that it can theoretically charge in one-eighth of an hour (as compared to a battery with a 1C charge rate which can charge in one hour). According to CATL, the new Tectrans II can charge from 20 to 80 per cent in just 6 minutes and 48 seconds and achieve a full charge in 8 minutes and 56 seconds.
CATL also says that this rapid charging time “basically” matches that of “refuelling a gasoline car.”
Cell internal resistance has been reduced to 50 per cent of the industry average, subsequently reducing heat generation during fast charging. CATL has also used atomic-level interface reconstruction on graphite particles to minimise lithium loss and slow battery degradation.
The Tectrans II also boasts improved low-temperature performance, taking only an additional 2 minutes and 30 seconds to charge in conditions of minus 20°C.
This improved cold-weather performance builds on the self-heating pulse technology that CATL introduced with the Shenxing III battery it introduced earlier this year.
So confident is CATL in its new battery that it has promised to pair it with a 10-year or 1-million-kilometre warranty. The company also believes that the battery’s increased durability will help ensure a bettery price when selling the car as a used vehicle.
In support of its new Tectrans II battery, CATL has also promised to roll out a new charging and battery swap network which will be compatible with both passenger and commercial vehicles.
CATL plans to deploy 4,000 of these integrated stations across China this year alone, each of which will feature ultra-fast charging piles with adjusted cable lengths as well as battery swap capabilities.
The launch of the Tectrans II builds on an already impressive year of announcements for CATL.
In just the past few months, CATL has signed a massive deal to supply 60 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of sodium-ion batteries, launched the world’s largest energy storage testbed, debuted the world’s first real-world validated sodium-ion energy storage solution, and launched two major international initiatives designed to improve the sustainability of battery manufacturing, recycling, and reuse.
