Chinese battery manufacturer CATL has revealed its latest extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) battery, which is claimed to offer up to 600km of pure-electric range and more than 2000km in hybrid mode.
The battery maker revealed its second-generation Freevoy power pack at a tech day yesterday in the lead up to this Friday’s Beijing motor show opening, with CarNewsChina reporting it’ll be available in three chemistries and offer a pure-electric driving range of between 500km and 600km, depending on the variant.
CATL reportedly considers the battery’s 600km range capacity the “new competitive benchmark” in China’s EREV segment, and it’s also capable of ‘4C’ charging, allowing it to charge from 20 to 80 per cent in roughly 15 minutes. Its range claim is up from the 400km figure of the company’s first-gen battery, which was only released in 2024.
Furthermore, CATL’s third-generation Qilin battery – a full-EV battery also revealed this week – is claimed to provide roughly 1000km of range, and the company says some technology is shared between it and the Freevoy.
The clearest example of that common technology is reportedly seen in the ternary lithium version of the Freevoy, which is what provides the claimed 600km pure-electric range figure.
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CATL says that kind of range capability reduces the likelihood that the extended-range powertrain’s engine will ever actually be pressed into service, given it’s 50 per cent up on the circa-400km EV range claims of many current EREVs, and means most commuting can be done on electric power alone.
The maximum range claim of more than 2000km is said to be achievable when the EREV’s engine is used to charge the battery, as intended.
The other two chemistries available for the Freevoy will be a fairly traditional lithium iron phosphate (LFP) option with 500km of range and 4C charging, and a highly advanced mix between LFP and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) materials.
The main advantage of the latter, dubbed ‘Super-Hybrid Technology’ is an increased energy density of 230Wh/kg, up from an average of roughly 160Wh/kg in most traditional LFP batteries. This not only increases driving range by 15 to 20 per cent, but does so without increasing the battery pack’s weight.
CATL says it has also made serious advances in safety. Its new battery’s bottom coating can reportedly withstand an impact of roughly 1500 joules of energy, “equivalent to the shooting power of a standard rifle”. That’s significantly up from the reported Chinese national average of 150 joules.
Its sealing and waterproofing capabilities also allow it to withstand 200 hours submerged under two metres of water. The national standard for that metric is reportedly 30 minutes of immersion in one metre of water.
The second-generation Freevoy is just one part of CATL’s vast catalogue of EV batteries. The company claims that more than 95 per cent of EREVs sold with a pure-electric range of more than 300km are fitted with its batteries, and that the new Freevoy is now the benchmark for electric-only range in EREVs.
Though EREVs are much more popular in China, CATL’s status as the world’s largest battery manufacturer means there’s a good chance you’ve used its batteries in Australia, where the only EREV powertrain available so far is offered in the Leapmotor C10 mid-size SUV.
Tesla is CATL’s largest customer, while it also provides batteries for Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo, Toyota, and Mazda.
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