(Yicai Global) June 12 -- Contemporary Amperex Technology will begin this year to mass produce a new type of battery that will enable electric vehicles to run for 400 kilometers after a 10-minute charge, its chief scientist reportedly said at a recent event.

The new battery will be equipped in EVs by the end of the year, The Paper reported Wu Kai as saying. The media outlet also noted that the carmaker and battery involved are probably Li Auto and the 4C-rate Qilin battery.

Chinese EV startup Li Auto announced at the 20th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in April that its new model will be the first powered by CATL’s 4C Qilin battery, which can charge in 10 minutes for a range of 400 km.

There are two types of lithium batteries, ternary lithium batteries and lithium-iron phosphate batteries, Wu noted, adding that ternary lithium batteries have higher energy density than lithium-iron phosphate batteries but are also pricier.

In the laboratory, CATL can make a cathode material without transition metals with a capacity of 500 watt-hours per kilogram, higher than ternary materials and with the same energy density, according to Wu. But there is still a long way to go before the transition to metal-free battery technology comes into use, he pointed out.

Editor: Futura Costaglione