Electric vehicles can claim 15-year warranty as CATL outs million-mile battery with zero degradation in 1000 cycles

The world's biggest EV battery maker CATL has managed to bring its research in battery longevity to the retail stage.

It announced an electric vehicle battery that can last 15 years and loses zero capacity in 1,000 charge-discharge cycles.

The long-life EV battery will first go to the fleet of the largest electric bus maker Yutong, which often puts its buses through extreme challenges like heat, cold, or climb, to prove their endurance.

15-year EV warranty

CATL also got into a partnership with NIO to help it test and deploy lifetime electric car batteries that will allow EV makers to give a 15-year battery warranty. This could spearhead the used EV market, as more than 20 million electric cars will start coming out of warranty in the next few years.

CATL already provides battery packs that last 12 years for NIO's EV battery swap stations. Its new 15-year battery will first go to more heavy-duty vehicles like buses or trucks, which are typically used for a longer period than cars.

In fact, NIO and CATL are not only striving to deploy 15-year EV battery warranty, but also to mandate 85% remaining capacity after that period. This is a far cry from the 70% retained capacity that Tesla and other EV makers now give after their typical 8-year warranties expire.

Million-mile EV battery

Besides zero degradation in 1,000 cycles, and a 15-year lifespan before capacity drops to 85%, the new long-life CATL battery is rated to cover 1.5 million kilometers during its years in service, or nearly one million miles. Yutong also detailed a battery with higher performance that is rated for a 10-year lifespan and one million kilometers at the increased output.

Mum's the word on the exact chemistry that CATL used, but, knowing its history, the new 15-year EV battery is probably a product of perfecting existing technologies.

While not all that flashy, this approach has allowed CATL to release new battery types faster while still serving its numerous customers like Tesla, rather than getting bogged down with proof-of-concept breakthroughs that are years away from commercialization.

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