Article by Sebastian Vasile – Published on Tuesday, 21 April 2026 22:21 / Updated on Wednesday, 22 April 2026 00:14
China is the world's largest market for electric cars. Ahead of the Beijing Auto Show, Chinese group CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited) says it has developed a battery for electric cars that drastically reduces charging time while having a record range. It is a response to local rival BYD.
The new CATL battery would have an autonomy of 1,500 km (Bucharest – Munich distance) with a charge that takes only 6 minutes. Called Qilin, it would be the battery that offers the best autonomy and would have the best charging speed in the world. A huge leap from the 1,000-kilometer battery that it had as a benchmark until now, notes the Financial Times.
CATL also presented an improved version of the Shenxing battery, which can charge from 10% to 98% in just six and a half minutes. This is a considerable improvement over the previous model, which charged from 5% to 80% in 15 minutes.
These would be the loading parameters for Shenxing:
- From 10% to 35%: 1 minute
- 10% to 80%: 3 minutes 44 seconds
- 10% to 98%: 6 minutes 27 seconds
- From -30°C to 98%: 9 minutes
By comparison, BYD's Blade Battery 2.0 technology and Flash Charging system allow electric vehicles to recharge from 10% to 97% in 9 minutes. It takes 5 minutes to charge the battery from 10% to 70%. At a temperature of -30°C, the battery can be recharged from 20% to 97% in 12 minutes.
CATL's nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery achieves a volumetric energy density of 600 Wh/L and a gravimetric energy density of 280 Wh/kg, both of which are considered industry leading levels.
CATL has a market share of around 42% globally, supplying batteries to giants such as Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. Of course, it is also strongly present in the Chinese market, where it has sporadically exceeded the 50% share.
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Chemistry is the secret to long-lasting batteries
CATL and BYD invest billions of dollars in research and development, focusing on innovations in cell chemistry and manufacturing processes. If the first manufacturer is more “open” to foreign markets, BYD uses technology to impose its own products. BYD is in a “war” with giants like Tesla for supremacy in the electric vehicle market.
“The limits of electrochemistry are still far from being reached, and the possibilities of materials science are still far from being exhausted,” said Robin Zeng, the billionaire founder of CATL, on Tuesday, according to the source cited.
China authoritatively dominates both the market of rare earths necessary for the composition of car batteries, and the necessary technologies. CATL plans to build around 100,000 charging and battery-swapping stations in its home country by the end of 2028 in collaboration with a group of Chinese automakers.
CATL also announced that by the end of 2026 it will begin mass production of sodium ion batteries, a new technology that will help reduce reliance on lithium, cobalt and nickel.
