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A ‘million mile’ battery from China could power your electric car

  • China’s CATL is ready to produce a battery that lasts 16 years and 2 million kilometres
  • This battery is set to go into Model 3 cars produced at Tesla’s massive factory near Shanghai

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Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd struck a two-year contract in February to supply batteries to Tesla, which produces its Model 3 electric cars at the company’s new Gigafactory in Shanghai. Photo: Xinhua
Bloomberg
The Chinese behemoth that makes electric car batteries for Tesla and Volkswagen has developed a power pack that lasts more than a million miles – an industry landmark and a potential boon for carmakers trying to sway drivers to their electric vehicle (EV) models.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) is ready to produce a battery that lasts 16 years and 2 million kilometres (1.24 million miles), chairman Zeng Yuqun said in an interview at company headquarters in Ningde, in southeast China’s Fujian province. Warranties on batteries currently used in electric cars cover about 150,000 miles or eight years, according to BloombergNEF.

Extending that lifespan is viewed as a major advance because the pack could be reused in a second vehicle. That would lower the expense of owning an EV, a positive for an industry that is seeking to recover sales momentum lost to the coronavirus outbreak and the slumping oil prices that made petrol cars more competitive.
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Workers check products at the main factory of electric battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd in Ningde, in southeast China's Fujian province, in September of last year. Photo: Xinhua
Workers check products at the main factory of electric battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd in Ningde, in southeast China's Fujian province, in September of last year. Photo: Xinhua

“If someone places an order, we are ready to produce,” said Zeng, 52, without disclosing if contracts for the long-distance product have been signed. It would cost about 10 per cent more than the batteries now inside EVs, said Zeng, whose company is the world’s largest maker of these batteries.

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Concerns about batteries losing strength and having to be replaced after a few years is one factor holding back consumer adoption of EVs. Tesla last year flagged it expected to bring into production a battery capable of a million miles of operation, and General Motors last month said it is nearing the milestone. That distance is equivalent to circling the planet 50 times.
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