Xiaomi offers free Skynomad SUV if its Dragonscale battery ever catches fire

Xiaomi has unveiled its Dragonscale EV battery, developed together with CALB and Sunwoda, and backs the pack with one of the boldest lifetime guarantees yet.

If a Dragonscale battery spontaneously combusts due to a manufacturing defect, Xiaomi will hand the owner a brand new SUV of the same Skynomad series model and trim, no questions asked about depreciation or mileage. The company is also covering fires triggered by collisions, promising to make up the gap between the insurance payout and the vehicle's market value before the loss.

Lifetime Xiaomi EV battery warranty conditions

The guarantee only applies to vehicles used privately by their first owner, so rideshares, rentals, and used units are excluded. Owners must also keep an active Xiaomi connected services subscription and service exclusively at Xiaomi authorized centers, too, but that's par for the course.

Xiaomi isn't the first Chinese automaker to make this kind of promise this year. Chery beat it to the punch with its Rhino Battery Safety Program, offering a lifetime warranty on the battery, motor, and control unit, plus a replacement car of the same model if thermal runaway destroys the vehicle. Buick went further in one respect, guaranteeing a free replacement Electra E5 for any fire within the first year, though its pledge covers a narrower window than Xiaomi's or Chery's.

What makes all of these guarantees possible is China's new GB 38031-2025 standard, known as the "no fire, no explosion" rule, which took effect in July. Unlike the previous regulation, which only demanded a warning before ignition, the new standard requires battery packs to survive two hours after thermal runaway begins without catching fire or letting smoke reach the cabin. It also mandates underbody impact testing and resistance to degradation from fast charging.

Xiaomi claims that Dragonscale exceeds these baselines, citing millisecond level high-voltage isolation and a BMS connected to the cloud that samples cell data far more often than required, hence the requirement for an active connected services subscription.

The battery debuts on September 7 alongside the Skynomad N90 and N70 that include the world's longest range EREV thanks to the giant 76 kWh battery covered under the lifetime spontaneous combustion warranty. Whether it reaches the SU7 or YU7 remains unconfirmed, but Xiaomi is preparing a grand entry into the European market, where the lifetime battery guarantee won't go unnoticed.