A Chinese company showed off a record-breaking electric vehicle (EV) battery on Thursday. It has a volume utilization efficiency of 72 percent, an energy density of up to 255 watt-hour/kilogram (Wh/kg), the world’s highest integration level, and can go more than 1,000 kilometers on a single charge.
The battery, called Qilin, after a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, is expected to go into mass production in 2023, according to Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL), China’s largest automotive lithium-ion battery maker.
Capacity utilization efficiency of more than 50 percent was achieved in 2019 using the world’s first module-less battery pack cell-to-pack (CTP).
The Qilin battery also called the CTP 3.0 battery, is the most integrated battery in the world, according to CATL. It uses the third generation of CTP technology and has a volume utilization efficiency of 72% and an energy density of up to 255 Wh/kg for ternary battery systems.
The battery has 13 percent more power than the 4680 battery made by global EV giant Tesla. CATL says it offers improvements in range, fast-charging, safety, service life, efficiency, and low-temperature performance.
Most integrated electric car battery in the world
The CTP technology directly integrates cells into packs without modules to improve system energy density, simplify manufacturing, and help cut costs. The CTP 3.0 battery improves service life, safety, charging speeds, and low-temperature performance.
The cell and the multifunctional elastic interlayer make up the integrated energy unit. Together, they build a more stable load-bearing structure perpendicular to the driving direction. This makes the battery pack more resistant to shocks and vibrations.
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The first large-surface cell cooling technology in the world
The Qilin battery has the world’s first large-surface cell cooling technology. It uses liquid cooling functional parts between adjacent cells to increase the heat exchange area by four times. This allows the battery to support a hot start in 5 minutes and fast charging in 10 minutes.
CATL says that in the worst cases, the battery lets the cell cool down quickly, stopping abnormal heat transfer between cells. It is also stable at high temperatures and safe for all chemical systems, so it can be used with materials that have a high energy density.