Chinese automotive giant BYD Auto, a subsidiary of the BYD Company, has unveiled its latest product aimed at revolutionizing the elective vehicle (EV) industry. The company officially unveiled its new blade-shaped battery design on Sunday, claiming it to be much safer with a 50 percent increase in energy density when compared to other batteries in the market.
The company's president of its battery business, He Long, mentioned in a statement that the company has received a lot of interest from other automakers after hearing about its products. The executive boasted that almost all of the global carmakers are engaged in talks with the company for possible partnerships relating to the new product.
While BYD has not yet announced any definitive partnerships with other automakers, the company revealed that it is already mass-producing the battery at its facility in Chongqing. The innovative design of the battery allows it to more efficiently utilize space when used in battery packs.
BYD claims that its design allows the battery to hold 50 percent much more energy per unit of volume. This essentially means that electric vehicles with a range of 400 kilometers using existing battery technologies will be able to go up to 600 kilometers on a single charge using BYD's blade-shaped batteries.
The automaker also claims that its batteries are much safer as it uses lithium iron phosphate technologies to store power. This type of battery has a much better thermal stability when compared to the commonly used ternary lithium batteries. BYD explained that lithium iron phosphate batteries were one of the first types of electric batteries used during the early days of electric vehicles. However, manufacturers had shifted to ternary lithium technology because they do perform better when it comes to range.
BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu pointed out that the use of ternary lithium batteries has resulted in an increase in battery-related fire accidents, which is why the company sought to improve upon the much safer iron phosphate battery technology.
The Chinese electric automaker claims that it does not want to keep the technology to itself and instead wants other companies to benefit. BYD hopes that other carmakers will go back to using lithium iron phosphate batteries as it will be much safer for consumers.
BYD plans to use the new battery design on its new sedan called the BYD Han. The company plans to release the vehicle in June of this year. Using its new battery technology, the Han is expected to have a range of up to 600 kilometers on a single charge.
