CATL’s Kirin Battery Begins Mass Production
Kirin battery, the ace technology of global battery giant CATL, has begun its mass-production, according to a report by ThePaper on March 21.
The report also showed that Zeekr, a premium electric automobile brand owned by Geely Automobile Holdings, will be the Kirin Battery’s first global mass production model. In particular, Zeekr’s pure electric medium and large MPV Zeekr 009 is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of this year, which will be only delayed by about 1-2 months after the mass production of Kirin battery.
SEE ALSO: CATL Tops February Installed Power Battery Capacity in China
Zeekr commented on the news, “At present, the order proportion of Zeekr 009 Kirin Battery Edition is very high, which has surprised us.”
The Kirin Battery is the third generation Cell-to-Pack (CTP) technology released by CATL, that is, it is a modular-less battery pack, a technology that was pioneered by the company in 2019. At that time, the first generation CTP technology made CATL’s battery volume utilization rate exceed 50%. As CTP technology now hits its third generation, its volume utilization rate has reached 72%, increasing the energy density of the ternary battery system to 255Wh/kg and ferrous lithium phosphate battery system to 160Wh/kg.
According to CATL, under the same chemical system and the same battery pack size, the power consumption of the Kirin Battery pack can be increased by 13% compared with the 4680 large cylindrical battery system.
At the time of its release, the battery had already secured a large number of customers, such as Huawei-backed AITO, with whom CATL has inked a five-year deal, and Zeekr.
As the leader in the battery industry, CATL has realized the layout of the whole product line from high performance to high cost performance, such as ternary high nickel batteries with high energy density and ferrous lithium phosphate batteries, which are widely used in the market. Kirin Batteries, as the most promising “celebrity product” in the next few years, has received a large amount of attention every time it makes an appearance.
According to market feedback, CATL’s total installed capacity reached 165.7 GWh from January to November 2022, an increase of 101.8% year-on-year, making it the power battery brand with the highest installed capacity at present.
