A new battery offers a range of over 621 miles on just one charge

The third generation of CATL’s cell-to-pack (CTP) technology offers a range of over 621 miles (1000 km) on a single charge.

CATL will start mass production of its latest generation product, Qilin, next year, the company announced.

Qilin, named after a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, also offers a record-breaking volume utilization efficiency of 72 percent and an energy density of up to 416 kilojoules per pound (255 Wh/kg); it achieves the highest integration level worldwide so far. 

With the same chemical system and the same pack size, Qilin delivers 13 percent more power than the 4680 battery, accomplishing an all-around improvement in range, fast charging, safety, service life, efficiency, and low-temperature performance.

CATL have integrated an internal crossbeam, liquid-cooling plate, and thermal pad into a multifunctional elastic interlayer in Qilin.

Qilin also features built-in micron bridges inside the interlayer, which flexibly accommodates the changes inside the cell, thus improving the battery's reliability throughout its entire life cycle. The integrated energy unit, composed of the cell and the multifunctional elastic interlayer, builds a more stable load-bearing structure perpendicular to the driving direction, thus enhancing the shock and vibration resistance of the battery pack.  

Ingenious design

Qilin’s ingenious bottom sharing design allows the smart arrangement of various components, including structural protection, high-voltage connection, and a protective vent for thermal runaway, further increasing the battery capacity by six percent. Meanwhile, the CTP 3.0 battery satisfies the criteria of the battery safety tests required by national standards, such as the bollard test.

The battery is cooled by placing liquid cooling functional parts between adjacent cells, and the trailblazing large-surface cell cooling technology increases the heat transfer area by four times, cuts thermal control time in half, and supports a hot start in five minutes, and fast charging in 10 minutes. It also lets the cell cool down rapidly in extreme circumstances, effectively preventing abnormal thermal conduction among cells. Moreover, it has achieved thermal stability and thermal safety for all chemical systems, making it compatible with materials with higher energy density.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company founded in 2011, specializes in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and battery management systems. Tesla, Volkswagen, BMW, and Nio are among the companies for which CATL supplies batteries.

CATL did not disclose if any electric vehicle maker had placed orders for its new battery.