Battery density breaks the record, will Volkswagen be the first to use this black technology?

Gotion High-tech, a new energy manufacturer for automobiles, announced the launch of a new LFP lithium iron phosphate battery cell. The new Cell has a record-breaking energy density of 210Wh/kg, a new high for LFP lithium iron phosphate batteries. The previous energy density of LFP batteries was about 160Wh/kg. The new product will significantly increase the range of electric vehicles. At the same time, Gotion High-tech has a close cooperative and investment relationship with Volkswagen.

Generally speaking, there are two main ways to evaluate the energy density of batteries: Wh/kg and Wh/L. The former is based on the "battery system" and the latter is mostly based on battery cells or battery cells. When evaluating electric vehicles, Wh/kg is mostly used because the battery system is composed of battery cells, modules, and battery packs, which involves the motor capabilities, technical barriers, and vehicle designs of different manufacturers. Evaluation with Wh/kg is more objective.

At present, the mainstream battery system of pure electric vehicles is still ternary lithium batteries. Taking the 18650 and 21700 battery cells most used by Tesla as an example, their energy density is approximately between 250Wh/kg and 300Wh/kg. Recently, LFP lithium iron phosphate batteries have begun to attract the attention of automobile manufacturers due to their low demand for precious metals, low pollution and low cost. For example, a certain proportion of Model 3 assembled in Shanghai uses LFP batteries.

Although LFP lithium iron phosphate batteries have many advantages, their biggest fatal flaw is that their energy density has never been able to compete with ternary lithium batteries, and therefore they are rarely used in high-end, long-range electric vehicles. With technological breakthroughs, the new LGP battery cell released by Guoxuan High-tech has an energy density of 210Wh/kg. Judging from the products officially displayed, its battery cell uses a bag-type (soft pack) design, and a single cell is 176Wh (55Ah, 3.2V).

Guoxuan High-tech has a highly cooperative relationship with Volkswagen. Although Guoxuan High-tech's current production scale is lower than that of CATL and BYD, it is expected to increase its market share through the launch of new products. At the same time, Volkswagen acquired approximately 25% of Guoxuan High-tech's equity in 2020. It is reasonable to speculate that the two will have more and more important product development and plans in the future. If there are any new developments later, we will continue to track them.