The Frontline | Behind the Zunjie 6C Fast Charging: The Technological Synergy between Huawei and CATL

Xiaomi SU7 Ultra achieved a breakthrough of over 10,000 units in just two hours of pre-orders, once again becoming a phenomenon-level product. This car is called "the fastest four-door mass-produced car on the surface" by Lei Jun, with a zero to 100 km/h acceleration of only 1.98 seconds and a horsepower of more than 1500.

The choice of power battery is a major magic weapon for Xiaomi SU7 Ultra to achieve performance leapfrog. This car is equipped with CATL's second-generation Kirin battery, with a 1330kW peak output power, providing confidence for SU7 Ultra to challenge the new luxury market.

In addition to the extreme performance of SU7 Ultra, with the support of CATL, the charging speed of electric vehicles has also evolved from 4C to 6C.

Recently, at the technical launch event of Hongmeng Zhixing Zunjie S800, Yu Chengdong, the chairman of Huawei Intelligent Automotive Solution BU, revealed that Zunjie S800 will be equipped with the brand-new Giant Whale Battery 2.0.

Giant Whale Battery 2.0 is divided into two versions. The 97kWh pure electric version supports a charging rate of 5C, and the charging rate of the 65kWh extended-range version even reaches 6C. This is also the first 6C battery product in the industry.

The "C" in the battery industry refers to the charging rate. Theoretically, if the power battery supports a charging rate of "several C", the battery can be fully charged within a fraction of an hour. However, in the actual charging process, the peak rate is generally used as the standard. That is, during the charging process, if the peak rate can reach "several C", it can be called "several C supercharging".

The 6C rate of Giant Whale Battery 2.0 can charge the battery from 10% to 80% in 10.5 minutes, which is currently the fastest charging speed in the industry.

Judging from the pictures disclosed at the launch event, Giant Whale Battery 2.0 is similar to CATL's Kirin battery solution, both of which are thermoelectric separation with the electrode terminals of the battery cells facing upward and the explosion-proof valves facing downward, as well as the technical solution of large-area cooling of the battery cells.

The information declared by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also shows that whether the Zunjie S800 model is a pure electric or extended-range version, its battery cells and assemblies are provided by "Jiangsu Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd.", which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL in Jiangsu. This also proves that Giant Whale Battery 2.0 is also an extended application of CATL's Kirin battery.

The cooperation between Huawei and CATL has a long history. When Huawei released Giant Whale Battery 1.0 at the launch event of Xiangjie S9 last year, Zeng Yuqun, the chairman of CATL, attended the launch event and introduced the technology provided by CATL for it.

Now, the official launch of Giant Whale Battery 2.0 is obviously also based on the specific requirements put forward by Huawei, and CATL is the research and development subject for R & D and manufacturing. This is a common cooperation method between vehicle manufacturers and battery manufacturers.

The 5C battery used by Li Auto on the MEGA and the battery solution with the battery cells of Xiaomi SU 7 inverted are all developed in this way, as is the Giant Whale Battery 2.0 of Zunjie now.

To develop a fast-charging battery that can be mass-produced, especially a 4-6C battery with a higher rate, is a time-consuming and costly project, and only battery manufacturers have this ability.

Fast-charging batteries not only need to be matched with fast-charging graphite, electrolyte suitable for fast charging, and separator on the battery cell material. It is also necessary to upgrade at the battery system level, and use a powerful cooling system to suppress the temperature to ensure safety.

The core of CATL's Kirin battery architecture is the large-area water-cooling technology. The Kirin architecture places the liquid-cooling plate between the battery cells, and such a larger area of heat dissipation ensures the performance of the battery pack. The design of Giant Whale Battery 2.0 is the same. With the technical support of CATL, the battery of Zunjie S800 has truly reached the top level in the industry.

When vehicle manufacturers are still swinging between "full-stack self-research" and "supply chain dependence", the collaboration between Huawei and CATL provides a more efficient path choice. For Huawei, binding with CATL not only avoids the huge investment and long-cycle risks required for self-developed batteries, but also can quickly seize the technical window of the market by integrating the top supply chain.

This division of labor not only avoids the zero-sum game between traditional OEMs and suppliers, but also breaks the "battery bottleneck" dilemma that new force vehicle manufacturers may face. Just like the precedent of Bosch and Mercedes-Benz jointly developing the EQS axial flux motor, the cooperation of top players is essentially the sharing of technical privileges and market resources.

When Huawei benchmarks the range and charging performance of Zunjie S800 against Maybach, its confidence not only comes from its own product definition ability, but also cannot be separated from the continuous "technical blood transfusion" of CATL in the battery field.

The cooperation between Huawei and CATL also proves another possibility: Vehicle manufacturers focus on system innovation, and suppliers delve into technical depth, jointly creating new products through differentiated divisions of labor to jointly resist market storms.

In the future, with the popularization of 800V high-voltage platforms and 4C/6C super-fast charging technologies, the collaboration between vehicle manufacturers and battery manufacturers will be closer, and the 6C battery of Zunjie S800 is the best example.