EV batteries have come a long way since the first modern EV limped off the assembly line in 1996 with a puny 74-mile range, as an Emerson post notes. Since then, developments in the EV battery industry have skyrocketed.
Well before the first modern EV came onto the scene, the first electric vehicle made its American debut in 1887 with William Morrison’s jury-rigged horse-drawn carriage. However, with gasoline flowing in abundance from new finds in Texas and elsewhere, automakers shelved the idea until more than 100 years later.
One of the reasons early EVs faded from the auto market was their need for charging. Back then, home charging wasn’t an option since many homes didn’t even have electricity.
The struggle to make fueling an EV as easy as fueling an internal combustion (ICE)-powered car continued to dog the EV industry until recently when DC fast chargers erupted onto the scene. Instead of overnight charging, these high-powered charging stations could charge a car in as little as 30 minutes – just enough to grab a quick bite to eat, stretch one’s legs, and get back on the road.
Still, EV charging times – and ranges – lag a bit behind ICE-powered cars. That’s about to change with these three game-changing developments in the EV battery industry.
1. Competition in China Yields Net Gain for EV Enthusiasts
There’s a war going on in China: an internal rivalry between the nation’s top two EV automakers – Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and Build Your Dreams (BYD).
Like most industrial rivalries, this war’s victors are both sides’ customers. In the latest salvo, CATL has emerged with an edge, introducing a new EV battery that can charge to a 320-mile range in only 5 minutes, according to an April 22, 2025 CNN piece.
While rival BYD has also broken the 5-minute charging mark, its battery only delivers a 250-mile range. CATL’s battery tops that range by 70 miles, which is equivalent to a little more than an hour of driving, depending on the speed limit.
That’s not the only edge CATL has over its rival. CATL also recently unveiled the first mass-producible sodium-ion battery. With a respectable 310-mile range, the battery offers more safety and lower production costs. Sodium batteries are less likely to catch on fire, and the element’s abundance throughout the planet makes batteries using it more cost-effective compared to those using lithium.
Now, let’s export that rivalry across the Pacific to America’s flagship EV company, Tesla. As of the CNN article’s writing, Tesla’s Superchargers aren’t even close to their Chinese rivals’ numbers. Tesla Superchargers take 15 minutes to deliver only 200 miles of range.
While Tesla’s Model S battery beats the CATL one by 90 miles with its impressive 410-mile range, its charging speed still has some catching up to do to compete with its Chinese counterparts.
2. Tesla Counterpunches with a 100-Year Battery
It’s been several years in development, but Tesla’s Elon Musk finally unveiled its groundbreaking new battery design – and it’s a banger. With a potential lifespan of 100 years, this new battery solves several critical problems in one fell swoop, as an MSN.com article points out.
The new Tesla battery is a definite win for sustainability. Today’s EV batteries have a limited lifespan, around 8 to 12 years.
Potential Beyond Powering Cars
While conventional EV batteries can serve as backup power sources for appliances and electronic devices during outages, they ultimately end up in landfills. In contrast, these batteries’ 100-year lifespans make them a reliable power source that could last for a lifetime.
Even better, if applied at scale, this technology could expand into residential and commercial battery storage applications, powering homes and businesses well into their owners’ golden years.
Years of Research That Could Revolutionize the EV Charging Industry
The battery’s public debut is the culmination of years of research and development. In May 2022, Dalhousie University professor and Tesla research partner Jeff Dahn published a paper in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society that introduced the scientific world to the technology behind the battery.
Unlike the Chinese researchers’ work on sodium-ion batteries, Dahn focused his research on increasing lithium-ion batteries’ energy density and useful life.
If real-life performance mirrors the extrapolations in his research, it looks like he has accomplished the second goal as well. A battery that can cover 4 million miles and last for a century? That would definitely tick off the “increased useful life” box.
It turns out that Dahn accomplished the second goal as well. His groundbreaking 2022 paper reports on research he conducted to contrast the performance of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells with those based on a new chemical formula, Li[Ni0.5Mn0.3Co0.2]O2. The new formula, abbreviated as “NMC 532,” produced cells with a higher energy density than their LFP counterparts.
After 2,000 charge-discharge cycles, the NMC 532 cells showed no capacity loss compared to the 1,000 that would typically occur in the LFP cells, assuming a 12-year lifespan. Extrapolating that difference over time, Dahn concluded that batteries based on the NMC 532 chemistry could last for nearly 100 years or around 4 million miles.
In addition to the energy density difference between the two cell types, another factor contributed to potential longevity of batteries based on the NMC 532 formula. Dahn substituted single-crystal cathodes for the cells’ usual polycrystalline construction. Single-crystal cathodes have a slower breakdown rate during a battery’s charge-discharge cycle.
Another Objection to EV Adoption Answered
Once the battery gets out of development and into the market, it should answer one of the most common objections to purchasing an EV – the fear that the battery will wear out. With replacement EV batteries running anywhere from $4,760 to $19,200, having a battery that can well outlast the car should ease those fears.
Additionally, these batteries should provide a bonus that no ICE powerplant can. With the advent of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, the car’s battery can keep on working, saving its owners money on their energy bills by serving as an alternative energy source.
3. Enevate Enters the Fray with a Winter-Friendly Battery
Canada’s winters are legendary for long stretches of bitter cold. While its hardy population might do fine when bundling up for the duration, its EVs aren’t so lucky.
In fact, conventional EV batteries’ cold-weather performance dampens Canadians’ enthusiasm for the environmentally friendly vehicles that they power. A recent Canadian Automobile Association study revealed that 53% of current EV drivers still prefer to drive gas-powered cars during the winter.
Imagine the numbers among ICE-powered vehicle owners. Cold-weather EV performance must improve considerably to drive adoption among people who live in cold-weather regions.
It’s no wonder. Sixty-five percent of Canadian EV drivers have experienced range issues during cold stretches. Forty percent of them notice much slower charging speeds when temperatures plunge. Not exactly a source of word-of-mouth advertising for EV adoption.
You wouldn’t expect a team of engineers from sunny California to tackle this issue. But Enevate, a startup hatched by former UC-Irvine students and professors, is doing exactly that.
Instead of a standard graphite anode, the team used a silicon one – and it proved to be a sea change. Since silicon can hold more than 10 times the electrons that graphite can, it enables battery manufacturers to make batteries with up to 30% more energy density.
To counteract silicon’s tendency to expand and contract while charging, often causing damage, the Enevate team surrounds the silicon in a porous, conductive material that absorbs the expanding material, keeping the internal structure intact. Not only does this technology enable the battery to perform as well in winter as it does in summer, but it also charges cars in 5 minutes. Now, that’s a battery even the most stubborn ICE vehicle fans can get behind.
Combine that kind of charging convenience with EVs’ lower lifetime cost of ownership. When this battery enters the mainstream market, expect to see a rise in EV adoption. It’s that good.
As the Enevate team points out, it can take longer than 5 years for automakers to integrate new technology into their vehicle platforms. So, although it might take some time for Enevate to get their product into the right hands, it will be a welcome change for Canadian drivers and others who need to navigate winter roads.
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