Li Auto unveiled the Lianshan electric vehicle technology system at its Power Day event on October 20, in its first comprehensive public showcase of its in-house battery development.
The system combines Lianshan batteries, electric drives, supercharging equipment, and Li Auto’s own charging network. The company said the approach brings together in-house development, coordinated vehicle engineering, and an early warning platform to improve range, charging efficiency, and safety throughout a vehicle’s life.
Battery range, safety, and longevity
Li Auto said advances in materials, structure, software algorithms, and smart manufacturing allow its Lianshan batteries to add 500 kilometers of range in ten minutes of charging while supporting long range, safety, and battery longevity.
The new Li L8, equipped with the company’s in-house 5C ternary lithium-ion battery, has an all-electric range of 430 kilometers under the CLTC (China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle) standard. The 2026 Li i6, scheduled to launch on October 28, offers up to 780 kilometers of CLTC range, an 8% increase over the 2025 model.
Li Auto has developed algorithms to improve charge estimation and cold weather performance in lithium iron phosphate batteries. Combined with battery waste heat recovery and climate control improvements, they add an equivalent 30 kilometers of winter range, the company said. An over-the-air (OTA) update planned for the first half of 2027 aims to add approximately another ten kilometers of range at minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Li Auto described six safeguards spanning battery design, manufacturing, and vehicle use: protection against impacts, water ingress, electrolyte leakage, and thermal propagation, plus smart manufacturing controls and early warning detection.
The company said changes to battery materials and thermal management improve durability. Its in-house 5C batteries in 2026 extended-range and battery electric models are designed to retain more than 75% battery health after eight years and 160,000 kilometers, supporting range and supercharging performance over time.
Li Auto also introduced the Lianshan battery protection plan. If a quality defect causes one of its in-house batteries to catch fire spontaneously and the vehicle meets the criteria for being written off, the company will provide a new vehicle with the same configuration.
If a battery impact or underbody scraping causes an in-house battery to catch fire and the vehicle meets the same write-off criteria, Li Auto will cover the difference between the vehicle damage policy’s insured amount and the insurer’s actual payout.
Electric drives and charging infrastructure
Li Auto began developing its next-generation electric drive platform in 2021. It has since put a five-in-one electric drive system and a high-voltage, silicon carbide three-in-one system into mass production. The new generation adds approximately 30 kilometers of range and frees up 24 millimeters of vertical space in the vehicle, the company said.
Since it began building its supercharging network in April 2023, Li Auto has reportedly installed 4,200 stations with more than 23,000 charging posts. The network covers 25 national expressway corridors in China and 138 long-distance routes. By the end of 2026, the company aims to have one station every 100 kilometers on average along national expressway corridors.
It plans to increase the number of 5C supercharging connectors to 8,300 before Lunar New Year in 2027 and introduce Li Auto 5C priority charging spaces in the fourth quarter of 2026. The next two major OTA releases are set to add more than ten major features, including a map-based artificial intelligence travel agent.
Li Auto is also expanding its scenic charging routes, including along national highways G219 and G331, and exploring fully automated supercharging at every charging space.
A division of labor with Sunwoda
In-depth battery R&D by automakers helps the industry develop and benefits consumers, Li Auto CEO Li Xiang recently wrote on social media. He said the world needs both battery companies that understand smart EVs best and smart EV companies that understand batteries best.
Li likened progress in a vast industry to walking on two legs: specialist suppliers with a deep understanding of products and manufacturers with a deep understanding of the underlying technologies. Both must advance in turn to move the industry forward, he said, with users ultimately benefiting.
Li Auto works primarily with Sunwoda to manufacture its in-house batteries. It selects cell materials and leads electrochemical and structural design, along with development of battery packs and battery management systems. Sunwoda handles production engineering and large-scale manufacturing.
The partnership extends to ownership. In a September 4 announcement, Sunwoda said Li Auto was investing RMB 2.65 billion (USD 396.2 million) in Sunwoda EVB, acquiring an 8.79% direct stake and an 11.17% total economic interest to become its second-largest shareholder.
This article was adapted based on a feature originally written by SY and published on IPO Zaozhidao. KrASIA is authorized to translate, adapt, and publish its contents.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.69 = USD 1 based on estimates as of October 23, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are approximate and, where appropriate, rounded for ease of reference. They may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.