BYD Blade Battery Promises Safer Electric Vehicles

A Chinese company called BYD officially announced the launch of Blade Battery that it developed to mitigate concerns about battery safety in electric vehicles. The goal of the company was to resolve issues with battery safety and redefine safety standards for the entire electric vehicle industry. The company shared a video of the Blade Battery successfully passing a nail penetration test.

The nail penetration test is seen as the most rigorous way to test thermal runaway in batteries. The battery uses individual cells that are arranged together in an array and then inserted into a battery pack. The optimized battery pack structure improves space utilization of the battery pack over 50 percent compared to traditional lithium iron phosphate block batteries.

BYD says that during the nail penetration test, the Blade Battery emitted no smoke or fire after being penetrated. Its surface temperature only reached 30 to 60 degrees Celsius. BYD says that under the same conditions, a ternary lithium battery exceeded 500 degrees Celsius and violently burned. A conventional lithium-ion phosphate block battery did not emit flames or smoke, but its surface temperature reached 200 to 400 degrees Celsius.

The Blade Battery was also able to be crushed, bent, heated in a furnace to 300 degrees Celsius, and overcharged by 260 percent without resulting in a fire or explosion. BYD says that it is more focused on battery safety than extending the driving range at this time. The company wants to work with partners on its battery tech to improve safety in the industry.

BYD has a new flagship electric vehicle landing in China this summer called the Han EV that will launch in June. The vehicle will use the Blade Battery, promising a driving range of 605 kilometers per charge. The vehicle also promises a celebration from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds.