While there are currently two main types of lithium-ion batteries, CATL, the world leader in the sector, announces that it has launched the first electric car equipped with a new type of battery. Promising a good compromise between price and autonomy, this pack should soon arrive on the entry-level Tesla Model 3. Here’s what to expect.
Who says electric car, necessarily says battery. Lithium-ion technology, very predominant today (even if sodium batteries have great potential), is currently divided into two main categories: LFP (lithium – iron – phosphate) for entry-level models, and NMC (nickel – manganese – cobalt) for higher ranges.
That was until CATL, the world leader in batteries, presented a new type of cell in 2022: M3P. Batteries that we had no longer heard of, but an announcement from the manufacturer gives us something new: the first electric car equipped with this battery has been marketed, and Tesla would be interested in equipping its entry-level Model 3 with it.
A very mysterious battery
It’s Chinese media The Paper which relates the announcement. This M3P battery would therefore be at the heart of the Luxeed S7, a large Chinese electric sedan (co-developed by Chery and… Huawei), which has just been launched.
A battery that seems interesting, giving this S7 a range of up to 800 kilometers in a single charge according to the Chinese CLTC cycle, or around 680 kilometers on the European WLTP cycle. Charging is not left out, with an 800 V architecture promising 10 to 80% in 15 minutes.
Still, this M3P… we don’t know much more about it. Its exact chemistry is not known; We thought at the beginning that it would be an LMFP (lithium – manganese – iron – phosphate), but CATL denies this… without giving the exact nature of this new battery.
All we know is that this M3P battery promises a good compromise between LFP and NMC batteries. In March 2023, Zeng Yuqun, president of CATL, declared: “M3P batteries can reduce costs and increase efficiency. Their low temperature performance and energy density are better than LFPs, and their costs are better than NMCs..
A sort of best of both worlds, therefore, and which interests other manufacturers – and not the least.
Soon on the Tesla Model 3
Indeed, Tesla is in talks with CATL to equip its Model 3 with this battery. To tell the truth, the announcement is not new, but the marketing of the Luxeed clearly shows that the M3P battery is ready. Enough to predict an arrival in the Tesla sedan not so long ago, even if, again, no details have filtered out.
What should we expect? This battery should be reserved for the entry-level Propulsion version, the only one to receive an LFP battery (the “Large Autonomy” and the “Performance” to come have NMC). CATL is aiming for a range of 700 km but, if it is talking about a figure calculated according to the CTLC standard, then we should expect something in the region of 610 km WLTP.
Great progress for the Model 3 Propulsion, which today has a range of 554 km WLTP. We can also imagine that this battery will arrive on the Model Y, a new version of which would arrive in 2025.
It remains to be seen whether it will be added to or replace the BYD battery, the other battery giant, which allows the Model Y to recharge in 20 minutes. Answer in a few months, probably.