General Motors, a car brand familiar to many American driveways, has developed a breakthrough electric vehicle battery in partnership with China's CATL, a world leader in power pack production.
The result is being touted in multiple reports as the fastest-charging battery, able to provide 124 miles in just five minutes, as noted by Electrek, Interesting Engineering, and others.
"That's enough range … for just about everyone to run several errands," a commenter posted on the Electrek story.
Everyday reliability is important in a highly competitive EV market. SAIC-GM is General Motors' joint venture in China that worked with CATL on the project. It was founded in the late 1990s, providing the American automaker a means to carve out a chunk of business in Asia, all per Electrek.
The International Energy Agency reports that 8.1 million new EVs were registered in China last year. That's a 35% increase from 2022. So, the move to partner with the country's biggest battery maker could prove fruitful.
The power packs use lithium-iron phosphate chemistry, praised last year by Forbes as "the next big thing" in battery tech because the materials needed to make them are cheaper than what's in more common lithium-ion batteries. Other companies, including Volvo's parent company Geely, also tout safety as the onus for developing them.
A new electrolyte — the part of the battery where ions travel between the electrodes during operation — is part of the electrochemical upgrades made to improve conductivity and overall performance, as noted by CnEVPost. The battery is capable of 6C ultrafast charging, helping it hit the impressive five-minute mark for a half charge.
"C refers to the battery's charging multiplier, and 6C means that the battery can theoretically be fully charged in one-sixth of an hour — 10 minutes," CnEVPost's Lei Kang explained in the story, which claims the fastest battery currently used in China posts a 5.5C mark.
The Geely LFP can charge to 80% in under 20 minutes, or 2.45C, according to the company.
In the United Kingdom, Nyobolt has successfully tested a power pack that can charge from 10% to 80% in under five minutes.
For its part, the popular Tesla Model Y can provide 170 miles in 15 minutes when charged at one of the company's 50,000 Superchargers around the world. If charging at home, it takes an hour to add 44 miles of range, per Tesla.
The common theme across the sector is that charge times are decreasing while range limits are increasing. That's important to customers who fear being stranded with a dead battery. But so-called range anxiety is quickly becoming an obsolete concern.
As more people switch to EVs — with help in the U.S. from tax breaks worth up to $7,500 — thousands of pounds of heat-trapping pollution can be eliminated with each parked gas-burning ride.
That's even true in U.S. states where fossil fuels provide most of the electricity to charge them, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The fumes can increase the risk of poor lung health and other medical ailments, as described by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
As an added perk, you can save up to $1,500 a year on gas and maintenance costs, as well.
In China, the GM/CATL partnership seems poised to move performance to another level. The batteries are set to be operational next year in some GM EVs, according to Electrek.
"That'll be phenomenal. Being able to charge nearly as fast as filling up a gasoline tank," the Electrek commenter added.
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