In the competition of battery structure innovation, which company has better technology?

Recently, the new iron-lithium battery technology released by GAC Group has attracted widespread attention in the industry. The technology is named as a breakthrough composite battery technology - a new generation of super-energy iron-lithium battery technology based on microcrystalline technology. While improving the battery energy density, the technology also extends the battery life, low temperature performance and fast charging performance, which is better than ordinary lithium iron phosphate batteries.

Just last week, CATL unveiled its Kirin battery, the biggest highlight of which is that it can achieve an ultra-long driving range of 1,000 kilometers. This means that the driving range of a pure electric vehicle equipped with this battery can be comparable to that of a fuel vehicle, and users can almost completely avoid mileage anxiety.

In fact, in addition to GAC and CATL, vehicle manufacturers such as Tesla, BYD, SAIC, and Great Wall all have their own power battery research and development technologies. When new battery materials have not yet been broken through, each company mainly optimizes the battery structure to improve the high performance and safety of power batteries. So, what are these flourishing battery technologies like, and what are their respective advantages?

CATL·Kirin Battery

Highlights: Improved energy density, range up to 1,000 kilometers

In 2019, CATL pioneered the world's first module-free battery pack, the first generation of CTP technology, which enabled the battery pack volume utilization rate to exceed 50%. Now that CTP technology has developed to the third generation, the recently released Kirin battery, the volume utilization rate has reached 72%, and the most direct effect is to increase the energy density of ternary lithium batteries to 255Wh/kg and the energy density of lithium iron phosphate battery systems to 160Wh/kg.

In fact, CATL's Kirin battery did not make any changes to the battery cell materials, but instead further improved the battery pack integration process, which is essentially an application of CTP 3.0 technology.

Traditional batteries use a cell-module-battery pack assembly model, while CTP skips the module step and directly integrates the cells into a battery pack, so it is also called a module-free battery pack. Since the module wrapped around the cell is eliminated, the battery pack has more space to arrange the cells, and the system energy density is increased, thereby improving the vehicle's range.

At the same time, Kirin Battery CTP 3.0 technology retains the battery cover and tray, combines the horizontal and longitudinal beams, water cooling plates and insulation pads into one, integrating them into a multifunctional elastic interlayer, ultimately achieving the effect of reducing costs and effectively preventing thermal runaway.

Through the world's first large-surface cooling technology for battery cells, it can also achieve a 5-minute quick hot start and a 10-minute fast charging function. The improved battery grouping technology is not only suitable for lithium iron phosphate batteries, but also for ternary lithium batteries.

In other words, in addition to higher energy density, Kirin batteries have also achieved comprehensive improvements in battery life, fast charging, safety, lifespan, efficiency, and low-temperature performance.

In the video released by CATL, a set of data also directly reflects the difference in performance between Kirin batteries and Tesla's 4680 batteries. Wu Kai, chief scientist of CATL, said: "Under the same chemical system and the same battery pack size, the power of the Kirin battery pack can be increased by 13% compared to the 4680 system."

It is understood that CATL's Kirin batteries will be mass-produced and installed in 2023, and the range of electric vehicles using this battery will easily exceed 1,000 kilometers. So far, many car companies including Ideal Auto, Lotus Auto, Nezha Auto, etc. have revealed in various ways that they will adopt Kirin batteries.

Recently, Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL, revealed at the Chongqing Auto Show that in terms of technology, CATL is working on all-solid-state batteries, semi-solid-state batteries, and condensed-state batteries. He said that innovations in the power battery chemical system, structure, and manufacturing, combined with innovations in business models, can drive the development of the new energy vehicle industry.

The birth of Kirin Battery is expected to bring more opportunities to CATL. From the market perspective, Kirin Battery has brought great changes to the industry and is expected to accelerate the replacement of traditional fuel vehicles with new energy vehicles.

Tesla 4680 battery

Highlights: Balance between performance and cost

Tesla's 4680 battery is cylindrical, with a single cell diameter of 46mm and a height of 80mm, so it is directly named 4680 battery. The battery material uses a ternary positive electrode, and the battery pack structure adopts the CTC solution, which directly arranges the cylindrical cells to form a battery compartment.

Compared with the 1865 batteries in the past and the 2170 batteries now, it seems that the 4680 batteries have become larger, but it is not just that simple. The 4680 battery cells also have many innovations and improvements in structure.

As the volume of the battery cell increases, the impedance of the battery also increases synchronously. Therefore, Tesla adopted the anode-less technology and chose to leave the positive/negative electrode material blank at the end of the current collector without coating. This design greatly reduces the impedance of the battery, solves the heating problem of the cylindrical battery, and improves the safety and fast charging performance.

In addition, Tesla's 4680 battery uses a dry battery electrode process, which does not use solvents, but mixes a small amount (about 5%-8%) of fine powdered PTFE adhesive with positive/negative electrode powders, forms a thin electrode material strip through an extruder, and then laminates the electrode material strip onto a metal foil collector to form a finished electrode. This process will increase the energy density of the battery and reduce production energy consumption by 10 times.

In addition to the above features, Tesla's 4680 battery has also been optimized in terms of anode materials and cathode production processes, increasing the battery life by 20% and reducing costs.

After the improvement, Tesla will increase battery life by 54%, reduce the cost per kilowatt-hour by 56%, and reduce investment and production costs by 69%. In addition to improving energy density, production costs are greatly reduced. In other words, Tesla's 4680 battery can achieve both performance and low cost.

Recently, the overseas version of Tesla Model Y (configuration seals , BYD uses CTC technology to integrate the battery with the body, further enhancing the safety of the battery and creating an "electric car that cannot be crashed."

Judging from industry reputation and car sales, BYD's blade battery has performed brilliantly. Even Apple has actively sought cooperation with BYD. Currently, many car companies have become customers of BYD's blade battery, including FAW Hongqi, Changan Automobile, Toyota, Ford, Daimler, etc.

BYD's blade battery does have outstanding advantages in terms of safety and service life, but battery life and fast charging may be its biggest shortcomings. At present, the battery life of pure electric vehicles exceeding 1,000 km has become the biggest selling point of car companies, and the blade battery has a low energy density, so BYD urgently needs to bring out the blade battery 2.0 version with stronger performance.

GAC Microcrystalline Super Energy Lithium Iron Battery