CATL, literally the largest Chinese battery company in the world, has just presented its new technologies at its Tech Day, and has left us some very interesting gems, including its new ultra-fast charging batteries. And the manufacturer has managed to develop a battery capable of charging the car in just over six minuteswith an autonomy that far exceeds current limits.
The Achilles heel of the electric. The biggest psychological barrier for anyone considering buying an electric car remains the same: how long it takes to charge and how far it goes on a charge. CATL has been trying to eliminate this problem at its roots through innovation for years. What it has presented now has possibly been the biggest leap that the company has taken on both fronts at the same time.
What you have presented. The company has announced two technologies main. The first is the third generation of its Shenxing battery, made of chemical LFP (lithium-ferrophosphate), which manages to charge from 10% to 98% in 6 minutes and 27 seconds. In just 3 minutes and 44 seconds it reaches 80%. The company claims that even at temperatures of -30°C, the battery can be charged from 20% to 98% in just 9 minutes.
The key to these magnificent figures is the world’s lowest internal resistance for ultra-fast charging: 0.25 milliohms, half the industry average.
On the other hand, there is the new version of its Qilin condensed battery, aimed at long-haul vehicles, which reaches 1,500 kilometers of autonomy on a single charge, according to affirms the company. That is more or less equivalent to going from Madrid to Paris without recharging, and on paper you would still have autonomy. The previous version reached 1,000 km.
How is it compared to BYD. CATL’s main rival in the global electric vehicle battery market is BYD, and there is so much competition between both companies that they are pushing the pace of innovation to an unprecedented level. Just a few days ago we were in Paris at the European presentation of Denza, where BYD showed the capabilities of its Blade Battery 2.0capable of charging from 10% to 97% in 9 minutes. On paper, CATL’s new Shenxing improves that time significantly, achieving practically the same load in just over 6 minutes.
In extreme cold conditions, the difference is also in favor of CATL: 9 minutes compared to the 12 minutes needed by the BYD system for similar loads at -30 °C. But hey, regardless of the manufacturer, the truth is that the figures being achieved today are quite spectacular.
Together, both companies control more than half of the global electric car battery market. According to data From SNE Research, CATL closed 2025 with 39.2% of the global market, while BYD occupied second place with 16.4%.
Other technologies. CATL has also announced relevant developments on other fronts. presented the second generation of its Freevoy hybrid battery, which mixes LFP and NCM chemistry at the powder level for extended range hybrid vehicles (EREV). This battery allows up to 600 km of pure electric range with ultra-fast charging as standard. By the end of this year, in addition, the company has promised to begin mass production of sodium-ion batteries, a technology that reduces dependence on lithium, cobalt and nickel.
Charging points. In infrastructure, which is perhaps the part that most interests the consumer, CATL has announced which will build 100,000 battery charging and changing points in China before the end of 2028, in collaboration with several car manufacturers in the country. As usual, in Europe we have to wait. Mass adoption and infrastructure is one of the fundamental steps for the end customer to opt for an electric vehicle.
In Spain we have plenty of charging pointsbut according to latest Anfac barometeronly 4% of the available charging points reach 250 kW of power or more, the threshold necessary to access this type of ultra-fast charging. In fact, BYD needs 1,500 kW of power, and they plan to bring about 3,000 points in Europe by 2026. So yes, there is still some way to go in this.
Cover image | Zaptec
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