On Friday, Chinese automaker BYD unveiled its foremost technology called CTB (cell to body), which allows the battery to be integrated into the vehicle body itself. The first EV model to utilize the technology will be the Seal series of vehicles.
Before the CTB solution, the most common method with which to manufacture batteries was with CTP (Cell To Pack), that is, the battery cell was directly integrated into the battery pack. The world’s first CTP battery pack from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) went offline in 2019, and was successively introduced on Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y, XPeng P7 and other models in the last two years. The blade battery released by BYD in March 2020 also used CTP technology.
According to BYD, the new CTB solution allows the sandwich structure originally used for the battery pack to be used throughout the vehicle, with the top cover of the battery pack making up the vehicle body’s flooring. This design allows for a 100 percent increase in body torsional stiffness over conventional designs and more than 40,000 Nm/°.
The blade battery adapting the CTB technology has passed the needle punch test before. At Friday’s conference, BYD’s CTB blade battery pack underwent another extreme test as the company rolled a 50-ton heavy truck over the unit after which the battery pack showed barely any damage. BYD said that the blade battery provides a safe foundation for CTB technology, which can eliminate the risk of thermal runaways.
The Seal model of the Ocean series equipped with CTB technology began its pre-sale on the same day. The vehicles feature cruising ranges from 550km to 700km and are priced between 212,800 yuan to 289,800 yuan ($31,877 – $43,412).
In terms of power, the new vehicle will provide three power combinations and two driving modes. The standard-range rear-wheel-drive version is equipped with a 150kW motor, 61.4 kWh battery, and a CLTC cruising range of 550km. The four-wheel-drive performance version has an output power of 390kW, 82.5 kWh battery and a CLTC cruising range of 650km. The long-range rear-wheel-drive version is also equipped with an 82.5 kWh battery, while the CLTC cruising range reaches 700km.
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The BYD Seal measures 4,800 mm x 1,875 mm x1,460 mm, and has a wheelbase of 2,920 mm. Fifteen minutes of charging enables the vehicle to drive 300km.
