No more range anxiety in winter. This Chinese EV battery technology defies cold

Chinese electric vehicle battery technology startup Greater Bay Technology, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC), has claimed it has a solution for what is known as one of the biggest drawbacks of EV batteries - loss of range during cold weather. Bloomberg has cited the company saying that its Phoenix battery range comes with a technology that defies the cold temperature.

The Phoenix battery comes equipped with superconducting materials and an advanced thermal management system that allow the battery to heat from -15 degrees Celsius to 25 degree Celsius in just five minutes. The company also claimed that the battery operates like normal and charges in under six minutes in all climates. With this, the battery is claimed to improve driving range and come significantly safer than the current range of electric vehicle batteries.

The new technology comes as a massive breakthrough in the EV world as the thermal inefficiency and range drop during cold weather has been a major concern for EV manufacturers. Electric vehicles can lose up to 35 per cent range in freezing temperature. However, the range drop varies for different electric vehicles. Some EV manufacturers like Tesla use heat pumps and features like battery preconditioning to lower the impact of cold temperature on the battery and range, but that is a costly affair.

Speaking about the newly developed Phoenix battery pack, it is claimed to offer a 200 km range with just five minutes of charging. Also, the company has said that this battery can be charged from 0-80 per cent in just eight minutes. The battery will debut in GAC's Aion V LX Plus, which is an SUV that comes promising more than 1,000 km range on a single charge. The startup is reportedly in discussion with other car manufacturers as well, who are interested in purchasing the new battery pack.

In order to develop this technology that allows ultra-fast charging and improves thermal efficiency even in chilly cold weather, the startup joined hands with other electric vehicle manufacturers and battery technology developing companies like CATL, BYD, Gotion High Tech and many others.