Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) – the world’s largest battery maker – is now moving its long-life electric vehicle batteries from the R&D and prototype stage to the launch phase.
It just announced that it will supply an EV battery that can last 15 years and will be good to cover nearly one million miles. CATL gives it a 10-year or 600,000 miles warranty, and guarantees that it will have 85% capacity retention at that stage.
For comparison, current batteries in Teslas and other electric cars only come with 8-year warranty, and for 70% capacity retention at that, so CATL’s new battery can nearly double the worry-free lifespan of an electric vehicle.
CATL’s Tectrans Bus Edition battery is meant for vehicles that may actually cover such distances, namely electric buses, and CATL has similar packs destined for light-duty trucks and other commercial vehicles. The new CATL battery is designed for longer life and stability, rather than performance, hence it comes with a comparatively low 175 Wh/kg energy density that is still the highest in the electric bus industry.
CATL also guarantees close to zero battery degradation in the first 1,000 charge-discharge cycles. Its R&D labs have shown that the LFP batteries of this type can actually last 16 years before their capacity drops to 85% of the original, but it is staying on the safe side and warrantying the packs for a decade.
As for electric cars and SUVs, NIO and CATL have entered a partnership to develop batteries that can last the lifetime of the vehicle. NIO is taking care of the regulatory and testing side, while CATL of the battery development. The goal to introduce electric cars with a 15-year warranty before 20 million used EVs with expired warranties hit the market in the next few years.
A 15-year EV warranty, argues NIO, will create a viable market for used electric cars, as people will stop worrying about expensive out-of-warranty battery replacements. CATL already warrants the batteries it provides for NIO’s thousands of swap stations for 12 years, so it is getting there. CATL says that its new battery tech is now going into more than 80 vehicle models by 13 companies.