Chinese battery giant CATL wants to make charging easy and fast for light commercial vehicles.
It's doing that with a new battery that can charge faster than most passenger EVs in the West.
It has a warranty of over 600,000 miles.
Most commercial electric vehicles have subpar specs compared to mainstream passenger EVs. Slower charging speeds and less range are more workable for commercial vehicle operators focused on productivity and cost than they are for families. But Chinese battery giant CATL wants drivers of box trucks and vans to enjoy blistering charging speeds too, and it has developed a dedicated battery for small rigs.
CATL said this week that its new "Tectrans II" battery will charge from 20-80% in under seven minutes and take just two additional minutes to reach a full charge, per CNEVPost. The company also reportedly achieved several breakthroughs in durability, including reducing internal cell resistance by half versus the industry average. That allows ions to move faster during charging and discharging. There’s also a low-temperature sodium-ion version of this battery that can retain 90% capacity at -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
