Tesla Model 3 Upgrade! What is the Story Behind CATL M3P Battery?

The refreshed China-made Tesla Model 3 will continue to upgrade its battery pack, with the standard rear-wheel drive version's capacity increasing from 60 kWh to 66 kWh, utilizing CATL's new M3P lithium iron phosphate battery.

The code name for the revamped Model 3 is "Highland," and Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory has already undergone production line modifications for this update.

What is the M3P Battery?

The M3P battery first came into the public eye when Zeng Yuqun, the chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), mentioned it during a fundraising roadshow in February 2022. Subsequently, CATL's chief scientist, Wu Kai, revealed that the M3P battery has already entered mass production and will be launched for market use in 2023.

The M3P battery is developed by CATL based on a new material system, with an energy density higher than lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and a lower cost than ternary batteries—addressing the two long-standing pain points of LFP and ternary batteries.

Improving efficiency and reducing costs, or "cost performance," has long been a competitive focus for power battery manufacturers, with one of the main strategies being the iteration and update of technologies and material systems. In terms of technology routes, whether it's high-nickel 8-series or 9-series, or manganese lithium iron phosphate itself, they are all pushing forward along the two mainstream routes of LFP and ternary.

The M3P system leans toward taking another step between iron lithium and ternary, and some organizations believe it has the potential to become an "excellent transitional system."

The M3P battery has always been shrouded in a layer of ambiguity, with specific data and composition not disclosed to the public. Many voices in the market speculate that the M3P battery is a manganese lithium iron phosphate battery, but the reality is more complex.

CATL has indicated in its research that, to be precise, the M3P is not manganese lithium iron phosphate and contains other metallic elements—referred to as "ternary of the phosphate system." Its cost is lower than that of ternary batteries but still represents a significant cost in electric vehicles.

From the fragmented hints provided by CATL, it is currently challenging to piece together the complete material structure of the M3P, but some organizations have provided a rough outline. Shen Gang Securities pointed out in a research report that the M3P system uses a lithium iron phosphate olivine structure as its basic crystal lattice. By doping with two of the metal elements such as magnesium, zinc, and aluminum, substitutions are made at some iron element sites, thereby generating ternary materials within the phosphate system to improve charging and discharging capacity and cycling stability.

Why incorporate other metal elements? Analysts suggest that embedding metal ions based on manganese lithium iron phosphate can yield better charging and discharging capacity as well as cycling stability. For instance, using smaller radius Mg2+ ions to replace manganese ions can reduce the distortion caused by manganese ions on the overall crystal volume, facilitating lithium ion diffusion and thereby enhancing the material's conductivity.

In terms of processing, the synthesis of M3P is built on the production process of manganese lithium iron phosphate, utilizing high-temperature solid-state reactions, hydrothermal synthesis, and co-precipitation methods. This process is mature and suitable for mass production.

Regarding costs and application prospects, as CATL has revealed that "the cost of M3P is lower than that of ternary batteries," reports also indicate that the cost of M3P materials within the phosphate system is significantly lower than that of high-nickel ternary systems, making it highly applicable in mid- to low-end models.

At the World Power Battery Conference held in July 2022, Wu Kai stated that the M3P battery can be targeted for mid-range models with a range of around 700 km. Previously, models with this range used medium and low-nickel ternary positive materials, which were comparatively more expensive. Combined with the structure of the "Qilin battery" pack, the new M3P materials can also meet the demands of such models.

According to CATL's annual report for 2022, one of the main directions of their R&D investment that year was the M3P battery, aiming to enhance energy density and reduce costs. The M3P battery is already being advanced with customers, with research goals focused on improving energy density and low-temperature discharge capabilities of the phosphate system, while balancing range and cost advantages. Such M3P batteries will help enhance the company's competitiveness in the phosphate system field.

The M3P battery represents CATL's latest innovation in positive electrode materials, following their development of sodium-ion batteries. If it can be widely promoted, it will significantly impact the technological evolution of the power battery industry. In addition to reducing costs and improving safety performance, the large-scale adoption of the M3P battery would have another important implication: it could further compress the market share of ternary lithium batteries.

In fact, the reason ternary lithium batteries have become the market mainstream is primarily due to their high energy density, enabling longer driving ranges. Before charging infrastructure is fully developed, ternary lithium batteries have always held significant importance.

However, the current issue is that the mainstream electric vehicles now generally achieve driving ranges of over 600 kilometers, which sufficiently meets most users' travel needs. Consumers' anxiety about range has greatly alleviated, and they are now more focused on price and safety performance—areas where ternary lithium batteries are relatively weaker.

If CATL's M3P battery is widely adopted, the market landscape for power batteries will undergo noticeable changes, and consumers' vehicle purchase costs will significantly decrease. Currently, the penetration rate of electric vehicles is not high, and innovative technologies like this are needed to drive industry development.