Cheap new battery blows BYD away

Mercedes-Benz's decision to develop its own batteries in-house is already paying big dividends, after the German brand announced that it has developed a pioneering new battery chemistry that will herald cheaper, faster-to-charge batteries that offer 30 per cent more range.. Joining the ranks of Tesla, Volkswagen, Ford and Toyota, as well as leading EV giant BYD, Mercedes only opened its substantial eCampus back in 2024 and it was scientists working at the new R&D hub who were behind the new manganese-rich battery tech.. No timescale was revealed for when the new Lithium-Manganese-Oxide battery (LMO) or the even more energy-packed Lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Oxide (LNMO) unitwill be rolled out, but the new lithium iron phosphate (LFP)-replacing tech is expected to be introduced within the next two years, ahead of Benz's own solid-state batteries that will launch towards the end of this decade..

The new batteries were unwrapped at the premium German brand's 140 Years of Innovation celebrations, where Mercedes scientists said that as well as being superior to the current LFP batteries available in cars like the new Mercedes CLA, its new LMO/LNMO pave the way for a greener, more sustainable future.. That's because the manganese-rich chemistries are less reliant on cobalt, with the LNMO completely free of the in-demand element.. Cobalt remains problematic for the car industry, with more than three-quarters of it sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from mines that are known to use unsafe working conditions and environmentally damaging extraction practices..

The challenge for Benz, explained the scientists and battery engineers, was to attempt to replicate the same high energy density of its current LFP battery technology without cobalt.. First to launch in the "near future" is the LMO tech, which blends its chemistry with Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) oxide to maintain its energy density, but the big gains will come later with the completely cobalt-free LNMO tech, which costs less to produce than equivalent LFP cells.. Crucially, when scaled up to the same size and weight of the equivalent LFP batteries, which have been popularised by BYD, the new tech offers far faster charging and, at least 30 per cent more range..

Capable of working with far higher voltages, the new LMO batteries are also said to be safer than existing cells.. Mercedes engineers wouldn't be drawn on figures, but if applied to the current 58kWh LFP battery that powers the Mercedes CLA, the new battery will raise the range of the base model from 447km to more than 580km with higher charging rates, potentially above 400kW (+200kW) for a sub-10-minute 10 to 80 per cent top-up.. The same power packs are also tolerant of fast DC charging, retaining as much as 80 per cent of their original capacity after more than 1500 charge cycles, in research carried out on non-Benz batteries..

Full technical details have not been revealed on either the LMO or LNMO batteries, nor exact timings of when they will be rolled out, but it's thought both will be replacements for the current LFP chemistry, rather than the brand's flagship NMC cells.. The latter will then be superseded by the firm's most advanced solid-state batteries that are currently being developed in partnership with US-based Factorial and Taiwan's ProLogium for an introduction around 2029.. When questioned by CarsGuide, Mercedes insiders said if the German brand was beaten to market in the race to introduce solid-state batteries, or other more advanced chemistries, by the likes of China's CATL it would favour the off-the-shelf solution, so long as it offered the "best price for the customer"..

Originally, many analysts had written off LMO and LNMO batteries as 'transitional chemistries' but, the prolonged delay in introducing solid-state and the high costs and ethical issues concerning sourcing cobalt have now seen CATL and Japan's Toyota also investing heavily in manganese-rich alternatives that will rival Benz's tech.. Opened back in 2024 as part of a €14 billion ($A22b) investment in R&D, the new eCampus is a 10,000-square-metre facility that consists of three labs that are designed to fast-track new battery innovation with the ultimate aim of slashing the cost of a high-voltage battery by 30 per cent in the near future.. The facility, located within Benz's Stuttgart R&D hub, is one giant building that enables scientists to develop the chemistry, build prototype cells to torture-test, and then evolve the concept, before scaling it up for full mass production..