CATL started mass production of batteries with larger capacity than LFP and cheaper than ternary battery

Chinese company CATL has announced that it will launch “M3P battery” with new positive active material technology next year.

CATL adopts newly developed material for its M3P battery, which will have higher energy density than its ordinary LFP battery and cheaper than ternary batteries (NCM NCA and others). CATL has already started mass production of its M3P battery and plans to supply customers next year.

Although the company has not disclosed a specific active material for the M3P battery, it uses the olivine structure of LFP as its basic network structure. In addition, they applied a technology to replace iron by doping with two metallic elements including magnesium zinc aluminum.

In order to increase the stability of the charging and discharging cycles, it is known to use the principle of generating a ternary material from a phosphate. CATL has developed M3P batteries mainly for electric vehicles with a range of 700 km or more.

A CATL official said that “the M3P synthesis process is based on lithium manganese iron phosphate processes, however, it is much more mature and suitable for mass production. The material is much cheaper than high nickel ternary battery and suitable for low and high temperature operation.

CATL is also known for recently developing lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP), which is an advanced LFP, and has already passed several tests. The energy density of the new LMFP battery can reach 230Wh/kg, which is 15-20% higher than that of the LFP battery, but the price is known to be similar to that of the LFP.

By Journalist Tae-jun Park (gaius@etnews.com)