But the most eye-catching thing is the graphene battery. On the 15th of this month, GAC Group officially released the long-rumored "black technology". The graphene fast-charging battery developed by GAC Group has a 6C fast charging capability and can be charged to 80% in as fast as 8 minutes. At the same time, the battery energy density can reach about 280Wh/kg, and the vehicle's cruising range is expected to exceed 1,000km. Calculated in this way, the charging time is already comparable to the refueling time of a fuel vehicle, and the battery life is far beyond that of traditional cars. It seems that the battery life problem that is constrained by new energy vehicles will no longer exist, and the future is promising.
But GAC had just finished speaking. At the China Electric Vehicles Committee of 100 Forum on the 16th, Ouyang Minggao, vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicles Committee of 100 and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out his views on GAC’s graphene batteries. “If someone says that his car can run a thousand kilometers, can be fully charged in a few minutes, is extremely safe, and the cost is very low, then you don’t need to believe it, because it is currently impossible to achieve this at the same time. " Later, Gu Huinan, general manager of GAC New Energy, said, "The 8-minute fast charging technology is not only a problem of the battery itself, but also closely related to the charging pile. Don't confuse technological breakthroughs with commercial promotion issues. "
When a manufacturer’s technical presentation is questioned by technical authorities, who will you believe more? In just two days, the topic surrounding graphene batteries has a feeling of ice and fire, and it seems to have a tragic sigh of a strong man breaking his wrist.
In the final analysis, no matter what kind of battery or what kind of technology, there are only two core issues: "charging speed" and "how much battery life". These are also the two biggest pain points of pure electric models.
NIO’s ET7 is equipped with a 150kWh solid-state battery. According to Chairman Li Bin, the energy density of the solid-state battery will reach 360Wh/kg and the cruising range will exceed 1,000 kilometers; SAIC Zhiji’s “silicon-doped lithium-supplemented battery cell” "Battery" claims that the battery energy density reaches 300Wh/kg, can achieve a range of 1,000 kilometers, and has zero attenuation for 200,000 kilometers; Tesla has also revealed that Tesla's battery with a range of 621 miles (approximately 1,000 kilometers) is already under planning middle. It seems that in the future, the bottom line of electric vehicle endurance is at least 1,000km. Without this number, it would be really embarrassing to go out.
Domestic battery giant CATL also expressed its opinion. Compared with the current technology that has a battery life of 500-600km, the manufacturer’s next goal must be to improve the battery life of electric vehicles to a qualitative change. Technically Stay ahead and break through.
At several new energy model launches, we have seen exciting new stories and new technologies. But now the new battery technology seems to have more of a "Concept" concept battery flavor. I'm afraid more depends on the feasibility of technical means. Don't blindly follow them first and stay rational.
Just like traditional fuel vehicles have powerful engines, electric vehicles also need a very strong heart. After seeing the above batteries with infinitely close to 1,000km of range, have you already begun to long for this day? Come early.
Putting aside technologies such as graphene and silicon-doped lithium replenishment for the time being, it is necessary to look at the ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries that are widely used in mainstream electric vehicles. Through them, we seem to be able to find some answers to future directions.
Ternary lithium battery
The full name of ternary lithium battery is "ternary material battery", which generally refers to the use of lithium nickel cobalt manganate or lithium nickel cobalt aluminate (NCA) Lithium battery with ternary cathode material. Nickel salt, cobalt salt, and manganese salt are adjusted according to different composition ratios, so it is called "ternary", which includes many types of batteries with different ratios. In terms of shape, we commonly see cylindrical batteries and square hard-shell batteries in electric vehicles.
Ternary lithium batteries have relatively high energy density, high voltage platform, long cruising range, large output power, and can adapt to a wide range of operating temperatures. Especially in some low-temperature areas in the north, the power loss is relatively low. So the performance is better, but the cost is also higher.
There are many pure electric vehicles using ternary lithium batteries, among which the most representative ones are Weilai, Tesla Model Y, Xpeng P7, etc.
Lithium iron phosphate battery
Lithium iron phosphate battery is a lithium-ion battery that uses lithium iron phosphate as the positive electrode material and carbon as the negative electrode material. Lithium iron phosphate batteries have the advantages of high operating voltage, high energy density, long cycle life, and good safety performance.
Lithium iron phosphate batteries are relatively safe under high temperature conditions or when overcharged. They support high-speed fast charging, high discharge power, and no memory effect. However, the disadvantage is that the performance deteriorates under low temperature conditions and the attenuation is large. When used in northern China, special attention is required because the radius of action will be restricted. Representative models include: BYD Tang New Energy and other models.
BYD's Blade Battery
Popular consumers should be familiar with BYD's Blade Battery from a video, in which a steel needle is used to pierce ternary lithium batteries, lithium iron phosphate, and and Blade Batteries to analyze the safety of different batteries.
Some people may think that the blade battery is a new type of battery. In fact, the "blade" essentially uses lithium iron phosphate batteries, but the shape of the battery is flattened, and the thickness becomes longer after the width is stretched. It is thinner, so it is named "blade battery".
What are its advantages? Long story short:
1. The energy density of the battery per unit volume has increased, which is more than 1/3 higher than that of traditional batteries.
2. The volume becomes smaller and the invasion is less. It can provide better space layout for vehicles.
3. The weight is reduced, and energy consumption is reduced by overcoming its own weight, which is beneficial to increasing battery life.
4. Improved safety, reducing the probability of battery cores catching fire and exploding under conditions such as high temperature, overcharging, extrusion, and acupuncture.
From this point of view, is BYD's blade battery the best choice to replace ternary lithium batteries in the future?
It’s probably too early to say. Essentially, blade batteries have not solved the “old problem” of lithium iron phosphate batteries that decay quickly at low temperatures. Battery power will be greatly reduced under low temperature conditions in winter. The cold north has always been very unfriendly to lithium iron phosphate batteries, but ternary lithium batteries have not taken much advantage. The core issues of battery and battery life still haven’t improved much.
Hydrogen fuel cells
Hydrogen fuel cells have the advantages of no pollution, no noise, and high efficiency. The overall performance will be higher than all the above power batteries, but the cost is also high. Nearly 100 times that of ordinary gasoline engines. Currently, South Korea's Hyundai Group is leading the world in research and development and use of hydrogen fuel cells, and it owns the world's first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell passenger car, NEXO.
The advantages are self-evident. On-board hydrogen fuel cell technology is applied in cars, which can adjust power generation in real time and achieve efficient power supply, thereby solving the problem of power supply fluctuations from sustainable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy. .
Hyundai Group has proposed a new "2025 Strategy", released the exclusive brand HTWO for hydrogen fuel cell systems, and plans to increase the annual production capacity of hydrogen fuel cell systems to 700,000 units by 2030.
No matter which battery technology it is, whether it is ternary lithium battery or lithium iron phosphate, or hydrogen fuel cell, it has gone through a long period of research and development, accumulation and practical verification to reach today's situation. Consumers’ endless pursuit of electric vehicles’ driving range coincides with car companies’ willingness to develop and provide products. But in the end, we must respect science, rather than blindly seek perfection and speed. I believe that with the continuous development of technology in the future, the flaws that plague battery technology will be solved, and the performance of new energy vehicles will be even more powerful by then. What do you think?