The answer to our electric car problems? Chinese car brand BYD developing new Tesla-smashing batteries

Booming electric carmaker BYD could solve one of the biggest issues with electric cars.

The Chinese carmaker has detailed its next-generation battery tech that it claims can deliver a driving range of more than 1000km. BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said the battery would be released in August this year.

That range is based on the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC), which is much more generous than the widely used Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).

Despite this the new batteries represent a massive increase on current electric vehicle driving ranges.

Currently, the longest-driving electric cars, such as the Tesla Model 3 Long Range, eclipse the 600km range.

BYD has managed to increase battery capacity by more than 30 per cent according to reports.

The new batteries are lighter, smaller and more efficient than current versions, too.

The BYD Seal Premium is the brand’s longest legged electric car currently on sale in Australia with a claimed driving range of up to 570km via the WLTP testing cycle. A circa-30 per cent bump could see its driving range jump to an astounding 740km.

One of Australia’s cheapest EVs, the BYD Dolphin, could see its driving range jump from 340km to about 440km if fitted with the new batteries.

BYD is one of the leading manufacturers of lithium-iron phosphate batteries - otherwise known as LFP - that don’t use expensive and rare minerals such as nickel and cobalt. These batteries are also claimed to be safer and less likely to catch fire.

The Chinese brand’s new batteries could make solid-state batteries, which major carmakers such as Toyota are developing, redundant.

Solid-state batteries are claimed to be able to deliver a driving range in excess of 1000km.

They are smaller, faster to charge and more energy dense than current batteries. This is achieved because solid state batteries use a solid electrolyte instead of a liquid or gel used in conventional units.

No company currently has a solid state battery ready for mass production and Toyota has previously said they are targeting 2027 for the first vehicles fitted by the new batteries.