- Advancements include better energy transfer and management within the battery
- Sodium-ion tech allegedly helps with cold weather performance
- CATL claims alliances with Geely, Chery, and GAC
Battery technology is advancing at a fast and furious pace, with researchers finding innovative new ways to pack more electrons into shrinking spaces. Whilst there’s no argument that EVs aren’t for everyone at this juncture and hybrids are a better fit for many Canadians, the industry is inching its way there. Now, a company billing itself as CATL has launched what they’re calling the Freevoy Super Hybrid Battery, promising a range nearly tenfold the amount provided by today’s plug-in hybrid vehicles since testing apparently realized a pure electric range of more than 400 kilometres.
At its core are leaps in how the battery is constructed. The company says its Freevoy battery incorporates a surface modification technology for the cathode material, coupled with a high-voltage electrolyte formulation to create a nano protective layer. This effectively minimizes side reactions within the active layer. The integration of high-activity and excited-state particles into the battery’s cathode material is said to significantly enhance transport efficiency of lithium ions within the material.
Technobabble notwithstanding, this essentially means the battery is a heckuva lot more efficient at extracting energy from the power stored inside its structure. Such an approach would be a tremendous leap for plug-in hybrid vehicles, most of which currently pack the ability to travel about 40 to 60 kilometres solely on electricity before deferring to the gasoline-powered engine. Being able to multiply that amount to 400 clicks or more would do wonders for reducing fuel consumption in a plug-in hybrid without having to weather the uncertainties of EV ownership. It is worth mentioning that testing cycles in other parts of the world are notably more optimistic than those in this country.
CATL is also boasting their new battery can add 280 kilometres of range in about 10 minutes when being force-fed electrons from an appropriately robust charging station. Again, this is seemingly down to the battery internal construction and its ability to manage the transfer of electricity. Strides in the area of sodium-ion materials have allegedly paid dividends in how well the thing works in extreme cold, a development which should interest many Canadians. Heck, even if that’s all which comes out of the Freevoy in terms of tech adoption on a large scale, it’s a win around these parts.
The company says that, by 2025, roughly 30 hybrid vehicle models from brands including Geely, Chery, GAC, will be launched and delivered with CATL’s Freevoy battery. Ni-hao, long range plug-in hybrids.
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