Starting from 2020, cars with these battery technologies will be considered technologically advanced

The battery is the most important component of a pure electric vehicle, and both its size and price are perfect proof of this.

Therefore, whether we want to make electric vehicles more powerful or to make them more affordable, we need continuous innovation in battery technology.

As for the battery pack as a whole, there are two ways to optimize its overall performance: physical and chemical. The physical approach refers to improving the rationality of the internal space layout of the battery pack through various engineering optimizations, leaving as much space as possible for the battery; the chemical approach refers to finding a more advantageous battery solution by adjusting the ratio and principle of the chemical substances in the battery.

Of course, over the years, we have been "deceived" many times by various battery news about questionable practicality. This time, we will focus on talking about solutions that can be commercialized soon this year.

CTP Technology

At the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, CATL released its own CTP technology. CTP is actually the abbreviation of Cell to Pack. As the name suggests, it has changed the layout principle of previous passenger car batteries in terms of basic structure.

Before this, all passenger car batteries basically had a three-layer structure. The first layer was the battery cell, which was also the smallest component unit produced by battery manufacturers. The second layer was the module, which was formed by packaging the battery cells in groups according to certain specifications. The third layer was the battery pack, which was the large battery directly installed on the vehicle.

The reason why the module is needed as an intermediate layer is, on the one hand, to facilitate transportation and maintenance. When the vehicle encounters problems, there is no need to replace the entire vehicle, only the problematic module needs to be replaced. On the other hand, for safety, more reinforcing ribs can be arranged between the modules to provide an extra layer of protection for the battery cells.

However, with the advancement of vehicle engineering design, people have also realized that such a multi-layer structure is, to a certain extent, a design redundancy. Through the integrated design with the body, the battery cells can be directly arranged in the battery pack without removing the module layer, but it does not affect the technical indicators of the whole vehicle. This is CTP.

The benefits of CTP can be divided into three aspects. The first is capacity. In addition to reducing the module shell and various additional wiring, the battery pack of the same volume can have 15-20% more volume to hold the cells. The second is reliability. After removing unnecessary components, the overall number of parts can be reduced by 40%. The third is cheapness. After reducing many processes, the manufacturing cost can be much lower.

Of course, this technology also requires car manufacturers to have closer ties with battery manufacturers during the R&D stage in order to be more in-depth and reasonable in the development of battery modules. We should be able to see vehicles equipped with CTP batteries by the end of Q1 2020.

Blade battery technology

Blade battery is a technology that BYD recently proposed on Han EV, but it is certain that this technology will become standard for BYD's pure electric vehicles in the next few years.

Thanks to the advantages of integrated battery and vehicle production, BYD can customize the shape of the battery at a deeper level in vehicle design. The latest blade battery, in terms of shape, makes the current nearly rectangular battery cell longer while controlling the thickness. In this way, the battery looks thin and long, similar to the shape of a blade.

Broadly speaking, the application of blade batteries in electric vehicles can also be compared to a special case of CTP technology. According to the information announced by BYD, after such a structural upgrade, BYD's lithium iron phosphate battery can increase the energy density by more than 30% compared to the original battery system, while saving a lot of material and labor costs, allowing the overall cost of the battery to be reduced by 30% compared to traditional ternary batteries of the same specifications.

In addition, the blade battery has a larger single-chip area, and adding a heat dissipation pipeline in the middle can also help to better improve battery heat dissipation.

In addition, BYD today disclosed more battery parameters of Han EV. The battery pack voltage of Han EV reaches 570V, while most mid-range electric vehicles on the market still use a 400V body structure. Only super luxury cars such as the Porsche Taycan use an 800V structure. This means that the Han EV using blade batteries can not only conduct energy more efficiently, but also allow the battery pack to have better charging power.

According to the previous plan of releasing Han EV at the Beijing Auto Show, we will be able to see the relevant technology of blade batteries in Q2 of this year.

Dry Electrode Technology

When talking about passenger car battery technology, we cannot avoid Tesla. Due to the rapid increase in production and sales in recent years, Tesla has become the single largest automaker in the world using lithium batteries.

Among the models currently on the market, Tesla also holds two records: Tesla has the highest energy density battery pack in the industry and the lowest battery cell cost per unit capacity.

Since Tesla has insisted on using a cylindrical battery structure so far, it has paid more attention to optimizing the performance of the battery cell itself. Previously, Tesla acquired battery technology developer Maxwell, and the dry electrode technology it has always insisted on is also expected to be put into commercial use in 2020.

Traditional battery cell electrode manufacturing requires the use of liquid adhesives, which then need to be dried before other processes can be carried out, which is cumbersome and time-consuming. Dry electrodes, on the other hand, do not require the use of these liquid adhesives during the production process, and are made directly by applying and pasting solid powdered materials.

Maxwell's introduction pointed out that after adopting dry electrode technology, the energy density of automotive lithium batteries is expected to increase by 10% and the manufacturing cost will be reduced by 10%. Although it seems that this technology does not have as much improvement as the first two, it is important that its starting standard is higher than other batteries.

Tesla will hold a Battery Day event in April, where more detailed information about this technology will be available, so it is expected to be commercially available before the end of this year.