Fast Charging Batteries: The Future of Electric Vehicles

At present, fast charging is gradually becoming a standard feature of new energy mid-to-high-end models, and fast charging technology has become a new round of “battlefield” for power battery manufacturers. Many mainstream manufacturers , including Ningde Times, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Sunwoda, Funeng Technology, Honeycomb Energy, etc., are developing fast charging products.
Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Auto, said that in order to ensure the realization of 400kW ultra-fast charging technology, in addition to the national standard of 500Ah ultra-fast charging for electric vehicles and a voltage platform of 800V, a battery with a charging rate of 4C or higher is required. Charging time is shortened to less than 15 minutes.

The giants are making efforts
4C charging is not far away. About a week ago, CATL released the world’s first lithium iron phosphate 4C supercharged battery – Shenxing supercharged battery. The battery can be charged for 10 minutes and has a battery life of 400 kilometers. It breaks through the low-temperature fast charging limit and can realize fast charging in all temperature ranges, with a battery life of more than 700 kilometers. According to Ningde Times, Shenxing supercharged batteries will be mass-produced by the end of this year, and will be launched in new cars in the first quarter of next year.
Previously, Yiwei Lithium Energy stated at the Shanghai Auto Show press conference that the company’s 46 series of large cylindrical batteries adopt 3C-4C fast charging cores and large-surface liquid-cooled temperature equalization technology to support ultra-fast charging. At the same time, combined with the self-developed full tab structure and nickel + silicon carbon material system, a high energy density of 350Wh/kg can be achieved in the future, and it can be charged from 20% to 80% in 9 minutes.
In April of this year, Sunwoda held the mass production conference of the new “flash charging battery” and the world’s first ultra-fast charging power battery mass production conference. According to news at the press conference, the battery has the characteristics of ultra-fast charging, high safety, and extreme durability. It supports electric vehicles with an easy range of 1,000 kilometers. It can be charged from 20% to 80% SOC in 10 minutes, making charging “as fast as refueling.” .
It is understood that the flash charging battery adopts Sunwoda’s self-designed flash charging silicon material technology, high-safety medium-nickel positive electrode, new silicon-based system electrolyte and other key technologies, as well as a full life cycle adaptive overcharging strategy and high-precision coating. & lamination technology, etc., to achieve faster energy replenishment, higher safety and better consistency and reliability.
At the end of last year, Honeycomb Energy released a new generation of high-safety power battery system solution – Dragon Scale Battery ; at the same time released the nano-mesh silicon anode technology. Honeycomb Energy expects that the nano-mesh silicon negative electrode combined with the high-nickel positive electrode will be the first to be applied on large cylindrical cells, achieving an energy density of ≥300Wh/kg. Thanks to the nano-mesh silicon anode technology, in addition to high safety and long battery life, the Dragonscale battery can also support 4C fast charging while matching the ternary battery.
In addition, Funeng Technology held a new product launch conference in September last year and launched a new power battery solution-SPS large soft pack battery. Funeng Technology has displayed three types of fast charging cores, 2.4C, 3C and 4C, corresponding to cruising ranges of 1000km, 800km and 600km, and charging 40%, 50% and 70% of energy in 10 minutes. In view of the power of 300kW-350kW fast charging piles in the future, SPS will use different charging rates to expand the soft-packed batteries to achieve a unified configuration of “charging for 10 minutes and a battery life of 400 kilometers”.
According to Juwan Technology Research, with a high-voltage platform up to 1000V, the maximum charging speed of the battery developed by it is more than 6 times that of the current ordinary battery, the maximum charging power is 480kw, and it can charge 0%-80% in 7.5 minutes . It is reported that the pure electric flagship MPV V09 released by Cochuang Automobile is equipped with a 12MinXFC battery pack customized and developed by Juwan Technology Research Institute, which can achieve 400km of battery life after charging for 10 minutes.

Future mainstream technology route
As many battery manufacturers develop fast-charging batteries, upstream material manufacturers will also usher in huge opportunities, especially in the field of silicon carbon, which is closely related to fast-charging technology. Industry insiders pointed out that the potential of graphite anode materials is approaching the limit, and new silicon-based composite materials can increase battery capacity and energy density, thereby prolonging battery life and improving fast charging performance. CICC predicts that by 2025, the global demand for silicon-based anode materials is expected to reach 200,000 tons.
“Due to the difference between the crystal structure of silicon and carbon, the silicon negative electrode can quickly realize the intercalation-detachment process of lithium ions and accelerate the charging process. Among the various technical routes of the current silicon negative electrode, the silane pyrolysis method has both excellent product performance and technical route. The advantage of relatively friendly development difficulty has been adopted by many manufacturers, and it is expected to become the mainstream technology of carbon-silicon anodes in the future.” CITIC Securities pointed out.
It is understood that Betray has started the technology research and development of silicon-based anode materials more than 10 years ago, and the technical route includes two types of silicon-oxygen anode materials and silicon-carbon anode materials. At present, the company’s silicon-based negative electrode materials have been supplied to head battery companies in China, Japan and South Korea. The company expects to build and put into production 15,000 tons of silicon-based anode materials by the end of December 2023, and to achieve full production capacity of 40,000 tons of silicon-based anode materials by 2028.
Pu Tailai said that the company already has the silicon carbon and silicon oxygen capabilities on a pilot scale, and will increase the scale according to market needs. The company’s silicon carbon anode materials are currently mainly used in soft pack batteries and square batteries, and a certain number of pilot products are used in client applications. With the matching of the industrial chain, the application of silicon carbon and silicon oxygen materials in prismatic batteries will be increased.
Xiangfenghua said that the silicon carbon anode material developed by the company has been recognized by customers and has the basic conditions for industrialization. It is reported that the high-capacity silicon-carbon anode material developed by Xiangfenghua can reduce the volume expansion effect of silicon materials and improve the conductivity of silicon materials. Silicon Bao Technology also recently stated that the company’s silicon-carbon anode materials are mainly used in high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries and support 4C fast charging.
It is worth noting that the increase in demand for fast-charging anodes and the acceleration of the industrialization of silicon-based anodes are also expected to increase the penetration rate of anode coating materials. Huatai Securities predicts that by 2025, the global demand for anode coating materials will reach 335,900 tons, and the CAGR will reach 50% from 2023 to 2025.