China has developed a revolutionary car battery that can charge in just 10 minutes and power a car for hundreds of miles before it needs to be plugged in.
A report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) has hailed “remarkable” developments in chemistry that have allowed China to develop new batteries that pack far more energy than existing technologies.
The IEA highlighted EV batteries capable of travelling 250 miles without a recharge. Newer versions announced since the report was written can manage 600 miles.
However, the agency raised the alarm about China’s increasing dominance of the supply of vital materials needed to build batteries. The country’s stranglehold on supply chains means net zero rollouts globally could be disrupted by “extreme weather, trade disputes or geopolitics”.
The IEA’s Global Critical Minerals Outlook highlighted that Chinese battery company CATL had developed a fast-charging “Shenxing” battery “capable of delivering 400km of range from a ten-minute charge”. The battery is to be rolled out in electric vehicles later this year, the IEA said.
The report was written before CATL’s latest announcement last month, that it has developed a new battery, the Shenxing Plus, capable of ranges of 600 miles between recharges.
This means cars propelled by the new Chinese batteries would need refuelling far less often than most current EVs and at a fraction of the cost.
