On March 21, we learned from CATL that the company’s Qilin Battery has achieved mass production. On the same day, Zeekr said that its MPV model Zeekr 009 equipped with Qilin Battery is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of this year.
After BYD released the Blade Battery, various Chinese makers have launched their own unique power batteries, such as the “Magazine Battery” of GAC AION, the “Tiangong Battery” of Neta Auto (Hozon Auto), and the “Amber Battery” of Dongfeng Voyah… Among them, the “Qilin Battery” comes from CATL has received a lot of attention since its debut in June last year, and was also named the best invention of 2022 by the American “TIME” magazine in November last year.
From a technical point of view, Qilin batteries belong to the third-generation CTP technology product of CATL. According to reports, the volume utilization rate of the battery pack has increased from 55% to 72%, the energy density can reach 255Wh/kg, and the battery life of the vehicle will exceed an astonishing 1000km.
In addition to long battery life, Qilin Battery have also broken through the bottleneck of fast charging of batteries. According to the Zeekr 009 press conference in 2022, the Qilin Battery can be charged from 10% to 80% in less than 30 minutes; at the same time, the high safety and excellent cycle life of the battery are also one of the reasons why consumers are widely concerned one.
In terms of water cooling innovation, Qilin Battery is the world’s first large-scale cooling technology for battery cells. The battery cells are arranged side by side in a double-row back-to-back manner, and the water cooling function is placed between the cells, so that the heat exchange area is enlarged by four times, the temperature control time of the cells is shortened to half of the original, and in extreme cases, , the battery cells can be cooled down rapidly, greatly improving safety.
In addition to the above-mentioned Qilin Battery using CTP technology, other manufacturers have also explored different technology routes for CPT power battery and integration.
- Tesla 4680 battery
Tesla 4680 adopts CTC (Cell to Chassis) technology, the volume utilization rate is 63%, and the energy density of the battery pack is 217Wh/kg;
Compared with the Qilin Battery, the two water-cooling plates are placed similarly, but the Tesla water-cooling plate is dedicated, combined with the electrodeless ear and the large cylinder design, the heat dissipation effect is better than that of the Qilin Battery, but the space utilization rate is lower. Relatively, Tesla has more technological innovations in battery cells, and the energy density is not low, which makes up for the problem of insufficient space utilization to a certain extent. At present, under the same size, the capacity of the Qilin Battery pack can be increased by 13% compared with the 4680 large cylindrical battery system.
- BYD Blade Battery
BYD’s latest Blade Battery adopts CTB (Cell to Body) technology, with a volume utilization rate of 66% and a battery pack energy density of 200Wh/kg.
CTB was launched by BYD in May 2022 and was the first to be applied to BYD Seagull models. This solution adopts the design of the upper direct cooling plate, and there is no cooling between the cells, so the cooling effect is not as good as that of the Qilin Battery. However, the retention of the transverse steel beams makes its structural strength higher than that of Qilin Battery, at the cost of volume utilization that cannot be improved.
In a comprehensive comparison, CATL’s Qilin Battery has achieved a bucket combination of high volume utilization, high energy density, and excellent thermal management capabilities in the solution, which has a greater competitive advantage. In terms of models, in addition to Zeekr 009, the upcoming all new Zeekr 001, AITO, Avatr and other brands will be equipped with Qilin Battery in succession in the future.
