Geely's electric brand Zeekr has teamed up with Chinese battery giant CATL on an ultra-long-range version of its Zeekr 001 shooting brake, resulting in a production electric car capable of doing more than 1,000 km (621 miles) on a single charge.
The collaboration will be the first to use mass-produced versions of CATL's liquid-cooled, highly-integrated Qilin batteries, which offer a specific energy of 255 Wh/kg, as well as a "record-breaking volume utilization efficiency" of 72%. CATL claims the Qilin battery pack can deliver some 13% more power than Tesla's new 4680 batteries, given the same chemistry and pack size.
The company doesn't specify the capacity of the pack in terms of kilowatt-hours, but touts an impressive 10 minute fast charge from 10-80%, provided high-power charge stations are available, as well as the capability to warm itself up for a hot start within 5 minutes in cold temperatures.
A 1,000-km-plus range and a 10-minute fast charge time are pretty much about all most folks could wish for from an EV battery. Even cannonball racers need to stop for a pee every few hours. According to Zeekr, the 001 Qilin Edition will debut in Q2 2023, so there's still a chance somebody else could make the first thousand-kilometer production electric. But either way, it's an impressive thing to start seeing on spec lists.
Learn more about the Qilin battery pack in the video below, complete with some pretty wild drone shots of the extraordinary CATL factory.
Source: CATL
