Just before the team at Rethink went on our annual break, Geely’s subsidiary Zeekr announced its own direct competitor to CATL’s Shenxing battery in what it calls the Golden Battery. While this is somewhat old news at this point its importance can’t be understated as it really underscores the lead Chinese companies have over the West, and it shows how the shortcomings of LFP batteries are rapidly being addressed. The Golden Battery is an 800 Volt lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery that can charge at 4.5C or 500 kilowatts (kW), roughly 30% higher than most consumer-grade ultra-fast chargers rated at 350 kW. A 100 kWh battery produced under this architecture can charge 500km of range in 15 minutes, though this is using…