Auto Shanghai 2023: Tesla Battery Maker Unveils A New Condensed EV Battery

Chinese battery maker CATL unveiled a new ‘condensed battery’ at Auto Shanghai 2023. The new battery boasts an energy density of 500Wh/kg, which is outstanding. To give the number a context, Mercedes-Benz’s EQXX boasts a 100 kWh battery with an energy density of 200Wh/kg, and that EV managed to do as much as 1202 km on a single charge! Now while the EQXX achieves its high range figure with the help of clever aerodynamics, more than doubling its battery density will surely help with range figures by a huge margin.

To make this high density solid-state battery, CATL concentrated a highly conductive electrolyte, and combined it with an ultra-high energy-dense cathode, among other things. How scalable this battery is, and how it depletes over time are still questions that are left unanswered. And as it goes with new technology, the battery packs could also prove to be very expensive.

While that is said, the implications of the new solid-state battery are far-reaching. Quite simply put, with almost double the energy density of a Tesla Model 3 battery, not only can the EVs go longer on a single charge, they would also require lesser materials to build the batteries. Small sized EVs could still have a small range figure with a tiny battery, making it almost comparable to an ICE counterpart in terms of weight and space in the car. While larger EVs could have huge 200-250 kWh batteries and boast range figures well north of 1000 km, maybe even 1500 km on a single charge. Not just that, since the batteries would actually be light and energy dense, they could even power electric airplanes.