China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s largest producer of electric vehicle batteries, has unveiled an upgraded battery it says promises an even longer range than rival BYD’s cutting-edge technology.
Both tech giants now boast they have batteries that can charge Electric Vehicles (EVs) in as little as five minutes. But on Monday, CATL upped the ante by announcing that its new Shenxing battery has a range of 500 Km, about 112 Km longer than BYD’s stated range of 400 Km. By comparison, Tesla’s Superchargers lag way behind by delivering 320 Km of range in a 15-minute charge.
“Once again, we are pushing the boundaries of performance beyond limits,” CATL’s Chief Technology Officer Gao Huan said at the company’s Tech Day in Shanghai.
“Our goal is to make the CATL Shenxing supercharging battery the standard for electric vehicles, bringing users a more convenient and freer travel experience,” he added.
CATL’s innovation was announced just a month after BYD shocked the EV industry with its own agenda-setting launch. The duelling tech underscores the intense competition taking place in China’s EV sector, which is fuelling relentless innovation at low prices.
A battery giant
The upgraded Shenxing, which has a full battery capacity of 800 Km, was launched alongside a new sodium-ion battery, Naxtra, which CATL touted as a more affordable and safer alternative to lithium and lead-acid based batteries.
CATL – which supplies a wide range of car brands including Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen and Ford – was the world’s largest electric battery supplier for the eighth straight year in 2024, with a 38 percent share of the global market, according to SNE Research, a market research firm. BYD followed CATL with a 17.2 percent share.
In its filing for a planned secondary listing in Hong Kong, CATL stated that by late last year, its batteries were used in one out of every three EVs worldwide, powering about 17 million vehicles. Having listed in Shenzhen, the Chinese battery giant filed for another listing in Hong Kong in February in a bid to grow its global presence.
Gao boasted that the new Shenxing battery would power more than 67 electric vehicle models this year, without detailing the models. He said the battery performs well in extremely cold weather, delivering an 80 percent charge from five percent in just 15 minutes, even at temperatures as low as minus 10 degrees Celsius.
As for the Naxtra battery, thanks to the relative abundance of sodium, it promises lower production costs. The company also emphasised the model’s enhanced safety and stability, saying it can operate in extreme weather and is less prone than traditional lithium batteries to explosion and fire risks after collisions.
Gao said Naxtra batteries can deliver a range of up to 500 Km on a single charge, shorter than Shenxing’s, and is expected to enter mass production at the end of the year.
Tariffs imposed by the US President Donald Trump on China and automobiles would have a minimal impact on the battery maker, as its American business accounts for a small portion of its total shipments, a CATL representative told the China Securities Journal. (CNN)
