Ningde Times Qilin Battery Successfully Achieved Mass Production

Wike.com Lithium Battery noted that on January 11, Ningde Times disclosed in a response to investors on the interactive platform that the Qilin battery is expected to be mass produced in the first quarter of 2023.
It now appears that the Qilin battery mass production plan has been basically pushed forward as scheduled.
Qilin Battery is the CTP3.0 version of the modular battery pack from the Ningde era, which was released on June 23rd last year. Once released, it triggered many discussions in the market.
CTP, fully known as Cell to Pack, is a modular power battery pack. Compared to the traditional “cell module battery pack” three-level structure, CTP technology eliminates or reduces the module assembly process and directly integrates the cells into a battery pack. It is suitable for both lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary batteries.
Due to the elimination of the module housing wrapped around the battery cells, the battery pack has more space to arrange the cells, increasing the overall energy density, thereby improving the range. At the same time, the number of components in the battery pack has been significantly reduced, reducing manufacturing costs and weight.

Compared to the previous two generations of CTP technology, Qilin batteries completely cancel the module configuration design, and through optimization of the cooling structure, the safety, battery life, fast charging performance, and specific energy density of Qilin batteries are further improved.
It is reported that the integration degree of the Qilin battery system has reached a new high in the world, with a volume utilization rate exceeding 72%. It can increase the energy density of the lithium iron phosphate battery system to 160 Wh/kg, and the energy density of the ternary battery system to 255 Wh/kg, achieving a complete vehicle’s 1000 km range. Under the same chemical system and battery pack size, the power of the Qilin battery will increase by 13% compared to the 4680 battery system.
In addition, Qilin batteries use the world’s first large area cooling technology for battery cells, which can support a 5-minute fast hot start and a 10-minute fast charge.
From CTP 1.0 in 2019 to CTP 3.0 in 2022, as well as the CTC plan of Tesla in 2020 and the CTB plan of BYD in 2022, the technological route of new energy industry giants has been determined. On the one hand, it illustrates the diversification of innovation routes for battery system structures; On the other hand, the overall innovation direction presents the characteristics of modularization and integration.
According to the analysis of the Research Department of CICC, the last round of battery technology cycle was mainly led by battery material innovation, represented by high nickel ternary; At the current time point, the iteration of innovation at the material level is slowing down, and innovation at the structural level is accelerating. From new structures such as the cell level 4680 and blades to the system level CTP and CTC technologies, they will become the main line of the current battery technology cycle.
Currently, there are four types of battery system structure innovation technologies, namely CTP, CTC, CTB, MTC, and so on.
CTP (Cell to Pack): Typical examples include Ningde Times Qilin batteries, SAIC Rubik’s Cube batteries, and blade batteries produced by BYD. The module link is removed and the battery cells are directly integrated into the battery pack, but the design of the battery tray and upper cover plate is retained.
CTC (Cell to Chassis): Tesla launched a CTC solution based on 4680 cylindrical batteries in 2020, directly arranging cylindrical cells on the vehicle body to form a battery compartment, connecting the front and rear of the vehicle body with large castings. The battery cover replaces the vehicle body floor, which can reduce weight by 10%, increase battery life by 14%, and reduce costs by 7%.
CTB (Cell to Body): In May 2022, BYD launched the CTB scheme, which was first installed on the Jaguar model. This scheme integrates the upper cover of the blade battery with the underbody, eliminating the separate upper cover design, but still retaining the battery tray. The CTB scheme further improves the space utilization rate of the battery pack to 66% and the energy density to 10%.
MTC (Module to Chassis): ZeroRun launched the MTC solution in April 2022, which retains the design of the module and battery tray, using the vehicle chassis as the upper shell of the battery pack, eliminating the separate upper shell, reducing the number of components by 20%, and increasing the battery layout space by 14.5%.
The Research Department of CICC believes that, by comprehensively comparing various CTP and CTC schemes, the cooling effect, heat dissipation performance, and battery life of the Ningde Era Qilin battery and Tesla’s 4680CTC are better. However, due to the use of large cylindrical cells in the Tesla 4680CTC scheme, considering that the cylindrical arrangement naturally has gaps, and the group efficiency is lower than that of the square, the system energy density is slightly lower than that of the Kirin battery.
Currently, Qilin Battery has reached supporting cooperation with multiple brands. Among them, Jikron Automobile is the global mass production and launch brand of Qilin battery, and the pure electric medium and large MPV Jikron 009 is the first model of Qilin battery, which is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of this year, with a delay of about 1-2 months after the mass production of Qilin battery.
At the same time, the 2023 model of the 100kWh version of the Krypton 001 WE can be equipped with a 140kWh Ningde Era Qilin battery pack, and a limited number of 1000 sets of 1000km range kits are available. With this battery pack installed, the vehicle’s CLTC comprehensive operating range can reach 1032km.
In addition, the Qilin battery will also be launched into the new model of the AITO Interoperability series of Celes Group. And the two sides have signed a five-year long-term strategic cooperation agreement.
On the day of the release of the Qilin battery, the Ideal Car and Nezha Car frequently interacted with the official Weibo of Ningde, and even launched slogans such as “Qilin has a dream” and “Go to anywhere together with Qilin”. It is expected that the landing models and time will also be announced in succession in the future.