Zeekr 140kWh CATL Qilin

The Zeekr 140kWh CATL Qilin battery pack is interesting as it is an NMC chemistry in a cell to pack design.

This pack is used in the 001 and 009.

Specifications

800V or 400V

The pack is described as 800V in some applications, but this particular part appears to have cells arrange in a 2p configuration and hence 108s. That says that this part is 400V.

Structure

The battery pack structure is made up of extruded aluminium perimeter beams and a top and bottom cover.

The cells have aluminium cooling plates that run across the pack. The cells are fixed to the coolant plates, but the ends of the coolant plates are not fixed to the outer periphery of the enclosure.

Cooling

The coolant plates run either side of the prismatic cells. Inlet and outlet pipes are at opposite ends of the coolant plates and appear to couple using a flexible hose. The integrity of this system is a concern over the lifetime and in a side impact.

The coolant channels appear to be trapezoidal in form, our assumption is that this reduced the compression stiffness and allows the cells to expand over their lifetime. This suggests that coolant flow backpressure is likely to increase with the age of the cells.

Venting

The positive and negative terminals on the cells point upwards, the cell vent points downwards. There appears to be a defined venting guide system under the cells.

Aerogel on the end of each cell will be there to inhibit cell to cell propagation.

The Zeekr 140kWh CATL Qilin battery has a number of interesting design features and we need to see more details to fully understand how the cell vent gas is managed. The lifetime cell expansion and how that interacts with the cooling plates is another area where time will tell how well this pack performs with age.

Cell

The cell and pack design is from CATL and is designated Qilin CTP 3.0.

• Chemistry = NMC
• Energy ~ 648 Wh
• Physical Size
  • Mass ~ 2.27 kg
  • 39 x 200 x 120 mm
• Energy Density
  • gravimetric = 285 Wh/kg
  • volumetric = 692 Wh/litre

If you have more details of this cell, please contact us: nigel@batterydesign.net

References

1. Zeekr begins delivery of Zeekr 009 MPV powered by CATL Qilin Battery, CNEVPost
2. Story of tearing down the CATL’s New Qilin Battery for Zeekr 009, E-CoreChannel
3. Zeekr gives its 001 the CATL Qilin battery, electrive

See also: CATL, 800V Architecture, Cell to Pack Mass Ratio by Chemistry and Format, Pack Volumetric Energy Density