At its Super Technology Day in Beijing on Tuesday, CATL unveiled a range of battery innovations, including a third-generation Shenxing battery that charges from 10% to 98% in less than seven minutes and a third-generation Qilin battery with a 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) driving range.
The announcements put the biggest EV battery manufacturer in the world in a position to maintain its market leadership ahead of Friday’s opening of the Beijing Auto Show.
Quicker, Lighter, And Further
According to CnEVPost, the third-generation Qilin battery combines nickel-cobalt-manganese chemistry to reach a volumetric energy density of 600 Wh/L and a gravimetric energy density of 280 Wh/kg, both of which CATL claims are industry-leading. The 1,000-kilometer range is made possible by the fact that a 125 kWh pack weighs only 625 kg, which is 255 kg less than a comparable lithium iron phosphate pack.
According to CnEVPost, the enhanced Shenxing battery can charge from 10% to 80% in three minutes and 44 seconds and from 10% to 98% in six minutes and 27 seconds. Additionally, CATL showcased a second-generation hybrid battery with 600 kilometers of pure-electric range and a condensed-matter battery with an energy density of 350 Wh/kg that could extend sedans’ range to 1,500 kilometers.
Increasing The Advantage Over BYD
The introduction coincides with CATL’s ongoing global market share decline from rival BYD. According to SNE Research data quoted by Reuters, CATL accounted for 42.1% of the world’s EV battery usage in the first two months of 2026, up from 38.7% in the same time the previous year. In comparison, BYD’s domestic share decreased to 17.5% during the first quarter.
The event was presented in greater detail by CATL Chairman Robin Zeng. “For China’s technology to go global, it must rely not only on scale driven by quantity and speed but also on high-quality innovation and verifiable capabilities,” he added, as reported by Reuters.
What’s Next
In addition to lithium-based chemistries, Zeng characterized sodium-ion batteries as a “resource-resilient option for future large-scale and wide-reaching energy transitions” and stated that CATL intends to start mass delivery of these batteries in the fourth quarter. For commercial fleets, the company also unveiled an integrated battery-swapping and supercharging technology. Among other companies, CATL provides batteries to Xiaomi, Toyota, and Tesla.