CATL launches LFP battery with 470 miles range and 10-minute charging

https://electrek.co/2025/09/08/catl-launches-worlds-first-lfp-battery-with-470-miles-range/

by breve • 11 months ago

59 33 11 months ago

tanseydavid• 11 months ago

Impressive for sure.

SigmundA• 11 months ago

Hmm batteries don't have range, vehicles have range. Battery have energy storage capacity and I don't see it listed anywhere very annoying.

I bet a could get 470 miles out of 75kwh battery under the right conditions with the right vehicle. A Chevy Silverado EV got 1000 miles out of a 200kwh and its a brick.

Saying a battery has range is a nonsensical statement. Tell me how much energy it stores and how much it weighs thats whats important.

kragen2• 11 months ago

Gravimetric energy capacity limits range, which is why ICE cars outcompeted electric cars for a century until the batteries got Goodenough.

Basically the problem is that, once most of the vehicle's weight is battery, adding 5× the battery capacity adds 5× the weight and thus 5× the rolling resistance, so it only increases the range slightly.

LFP has historically been inferior to other lithium-ion chemistries like NMC in gravimetric energy density, so the range of the resulting vehicle is a major consideration.

_ea1k• 11 months ago

I understood that reference. :)

One funny thing though... the issues have had more to do with volumetric energy capacity than weight. See also tests like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmKf8smvGsA

That's why vehicles like Semi trucks can get by with batteries that are only ~4x bigger than a Silverado EV, weigh 8.5x more, and still manage to also produce higher ranges.

loloquwowndueo• 11 months ago

TFA says it’s 470 miles of range under the WLTP which seems to be a fairly standardized test procedure for light vehicle fuel economy and emissions.

One could in good faith assume it means “install this in a normal light vehicle (sedan?) and you’re likely to get about 470 miles of range when driven under normal conditions”.

That said I agree that range is NOT the best way to measure a battery’s energy storage capacity - definitely not the right unit, it’s like measuring computing capacity in megahertz. Oh wait :)

ranger_danger3• 11 months ago

It's just LiFePO4 though (which laptop batteries have been using for many years now), still not solid-state. Still a liquid electrolyte susceptible to dendrite formation, thermal runaway/self-ignition, ejecting flammable gases and hot sparks, still capable of contributing to explosions.

igor47• 11 months ago

Lifepo4 is much much less likely to runway self ignite than li ion batteries, at the cost of lower energy density. I'm surprised to hear of laptops with lifepo4 -- what are some examples?

Rediscover• 11 months ago

OLPC XO1 and the MNT Reform both use LiFePO4.

hadlock2• 11 months ago

I think you're confusing li-poly and lithium ion, with lifepo4. There's no shortage of videos on youtube of people cutting open lifepo4 with kitchen knives, band saws, and hammers without ill effect.

ranger_danger3• 11 months ago

False equivalence IMO... cutting into an unconnected battery is not how battery fires typically start, not a typical act people perform with their batteries, nor really related to self-ignition, dendrites or thermal runaway at all.

bahmboo• 11 months ago

You are incorrect. Laptop batteries are overwhelmingly NMC or similar chemistries. I don't know of any LiFePo4 laptops. Also LiFePo4 is extremely safe. So like another poster suggests I think you've got your chemistries mixed up.

ranger_danger3• 11 months ago

You are incorrect

How so?

Laptop batteries are overwhelmingly NMC or similar chemistries

Yep, I was not debating that.

I was not trying to imply any particular percentage of laptop batteries are LiFePo4, just that they have existed at all in that field for years now.

There are several laptop manufacturers that are regularly using lifepo4 now.

LiFePo4 is extremely safe

I would say it is safer than li-ion but still not near as safe as an all-solid-state battery.

hnburnsy• 11 months ago

Without knowing the energy density what is the point here?

dzhiurgis4• 11 months ago

The headline is 12C charge rate, not capacity. Also charging below freezing temperatures is huge achievement for LFP.

cwt137• 11 months ago

I didn't see anything in the article about battery capacity or the density. This (with the other info in the article) would tell us if this is groundbreaking or not.

FridayoLeary2• 11 months ago

----------------------------------------------------------------

Dear battery technology claimant, Thank you for your submission of proposed new revolutionary battery technology.

Your new technology claims to be superior to existing lithium-ion technology is is just around the corner from taking over the world. Unfortunately your technology will likely fail, because:

[ ] it is impractical to manufacture at scale.

[ ] it will be too expensive for users.

[ ] it suffers from too few recharge cycles.

[ ] it is incapable of delivering current at sufficient levels.

[ ] it lacks thermal stability at low or high temperatures.

[ ] it lacks the energy density to make it sufficiently portable.

[ ] it has too short of a lifetime.

[ ] its charge rate is too slow.

[ ] its materials are too toxic.

[ ] it is too likely to catch fire or explode.

[ ] it is too minimal of a step forward for anybody to care.

[ ] this was already done 20 years ago and didn't work then.

[ ] by this time it ships li-ion advances will match it.

[ ] your claims are lies.

----------------------------------------------------------------

discordance• 11 months ago

FUD.

- CATL currently manufactures around 40% of the worlds EV batteries. They know how to scale manufacturing.

- LFP batteries do not catch fire or explode.

- Most of your other comments don't apply either.

FridayoLeary2• 11 months ago

just a copypasta i particularly like. It's a checklist i don't know which ones apply here, but it's likely that at least one does.

dzhiurgis4• 11 months ago

When the battery is at a 20% state of charge (SOC), the Shenxing battery will deliver up to 830 kW

Crazy times we live in when 1000hp+ cars are nothing special anymore.

dyauspitr2• 11 months ago

This is useless without energy density. For example NCM batteries in most American EVs are around 170Wh/kg while the Shexing PLUS is at 205Wh/kg. Significant but not mind blowing. I doubt the new pro version has a dramatically higher density.

DoesntMatter22• 11 months ago

This reads like a propaganda piece written by CATL. Batteries don't have range cars have range so I'm not even sure what this means sure a battery with four wheels would get great mileage otherwise it's not clear what this even means

jfengel• 11 months ago

It is written by CATL. They prefer to call it a "press release", but yeah, "propaganda" is also accurate.

Here's the primary source:

https://www.catl.com/en/news/6527.html

Some reporter at Electrek gave it a very light polish and put their name on it.

ZeroGravitas• 11 months ago

https://www.catl.com/en/news/6527.html

Is the press release this seems based on.

It seems like they might have translated "warranty" as "lifespan" for one model of the battery.

CATL launches LFP battery with 470 miles range and 10-minute charging

Related Stories