- The new battery is 40% shorter than a traditional blade battery.
- Geely submerged it in salt water and even fired a bullet at the battery during testing.
- The new cells can be charged 3,500 times.
Geely has unveiled a new lithium-iron-phosphate battery for EVs, which it says will be good for driving 1 million kilometers (a little over 620,000 miles) and last as long as 50 years. It also charges quicker, works better in cold environments, and can withstand some serious abuse.
The new battery, known as a short blade, features an improved diaphragm to improve energy density and safety. It uses multi-element doped electrode materials to reduce the internal chemical reaction rate significantly, which the company claims to be one of the main reasons this new type of battery can offer an extended life.
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The Chinese automaker says that the battery can be charged 3,500 times, equivalent to 1 million kilometers of driving, all with “minimal impact to battery range.” Not only will the extended usage life help the residual value of second-hand EVs, but Geely says it will reduce carbon emissions by more than 80,000 tons a year. The cell has a capacity of 192 Wh/kg and is approximately 40% shorter than a traditional blade battery.
Tests conducted with short- and long-blade batteries with the same capacity reveal the short-form pack charges quicker. Whereas it took the long-blade battery 26 minutes to charge from 10-80%, the new short-blade battery needed just 17 minutes and 4 seconds. In addition, the capacity retention of the long blade dropped to 78.96% at -30°C while the short blade retained 90.54% of its capacity in the same conditions.
Geely is particularly proud of how safe the battery is. If the cell is punctured, an aluminum foil layer will automatically fuse into the battery diaphragm to create an insulating layer, preventing short circuits and thermal runaway events. During testing, the battery was punctured by eight 5 mm steel needles simultaneously and left to sit for 1 hour “with zero ill effects.” Geely also shot the battery with a 5.8 mm bullet and didn’t encounter any thermal ignition events.
The testing didn’t stop there. The new short-blade battery was also immersed in seawater, thrown in a fire, put in extremely cold environments, hit from the side, squished by 26 tons, and scraped. Geely says all the safety features allowed the battery to pass with flying colors.
Geely has not said when it will start to build EVs with these new batteries.
