CALB 177 Ah cell batteries fail after more than 150,000 km of mileage. After warranty expires. Currently available in China, one model.

The problem will also arise in Europe, and somehow it will need to be addressed. Chinese buyers of the GAC Aion S for commercial use have begun noticing that the batteries in their vehicles fail extremely frequently, which results in issues such as short range and leaks (!). The warranty on the battery pack covers up to 150,000 kilometers of mileage, yet failures occur at distances ranging from 150,000 to 300,000 kilometers in vehicles used for commercial purposes.

Faulty CALB cells

The GAC Aion S is not sold in Poland, so this topic essentially doesn’t exist in our market. Additionally, in China it applied only to batteries built using LFP cells with a capacity of 177 Ah, while CALB offers a wide range of various formats and capacities. Yet the incident itself is concerning, as CALB is now the fourth largest Li-ion cell supplier in the world, and its products are used in many “Made in China” cars (such as Xpeng), with owners rarely knowing exactly what lies under the floor of their cabin.

GAC Aion S as a taxi (c) Windmemories / Wikimedia

With a battery capacity of 50-60 kWh, the GAC Aion S has an actual urban range of around 300-400 kilometers. This means its owners have only completed 375 to 1,000 charging cycles. In the automotive industry, 800 cycles is considered a reasonable minimum, while the 800-1,000 cycle range is viewed as critical, as unwanted processes may begin to occur in the cells. As a result, the batteries of Aion S models failed prematurely, on average after around 650 cycles. An expert cited by CnEVPost claims the problem stems from the battery design and GAC’s excessive haste to gain market share.

In the Aion models, there were cases of swollen battery cells, leaks, and reduced range. Collisions or submersion in water were ruled out as causes of the problem, so the only plausible explanation was poor design decisions by the manufacturer. Even when GAC dealerships admitted to quality issues with the batteries, they refused free repairs by citing a warranty clause limiting coverage to a maximum of 150,000 kilometers. The situation changed only after the state-run news agency Xinhua covered the issue.

The Chinese agency is controlled by a government propaganda department. When it decided to examine the issue, even without naming the car manufacturer, GAC opted to extend the warranty period from 8 years or 150,000 kilometers to 8 years or 300,000 kilometers. Buyers of Aion S models will therefore be able to rely on repairs rather than the costly replacement of the entire unit.

Article Rating

Reader Ratings

[Total: 3 votes Average: 5]

Don’t miss new content—CLICK and FOLLOW Elektrowoz.pl on Google News. You might also be interested in the following ads: