Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), the world’s largest electric vehicle battery maker, has achieved mass production of its cutting-edge Qilin battery. Ni Jun, a company official at CATL, said that the first batch of Qilin batteries rolled off the assembly line earlier this month in the company’s new intelligent factory. The factory is enabled by 5G and the latest smart manufacturing technologies, making an apparent improvement in production efficiency. Zeekr, an emerging Chinese automaker owned by Geely Automobile Holdings, also said that the company’s first model using Qilin batteries, the Zeekr 009, is expected to roll off the assembly line in the second quarter. The automaker added that orders for the Zeekr 009 with Qilin batteries are “higher than expected”.
The Qilin battery, with an efficiency of 72% and an energy density of up to 255 watt-hours per kilogram, is claimed to have the highest efficiency globally. It was recently listed among the Best Inventions of 2022 by Time magazine. Jiang Yifan, Investment Consultant at Guotai Junan Securities, said that “the technical indicators of the latest Qilin battery are basically 10% to 15% higher than traditional lithium-ion phosphate batteries, so there’s no doubt it is a big step forward for the battery industry.” Based on CATL’s cell-to-pack (CTP) technologies, the battery can deliver a driving range of over 1,000 kilometers. CTP refers to the direct integration of cells into a battery pack, without the modules. With the boom of electric vehicles globally, the Ningde, Fujian province-based company maintained growth momentum. According to a report from market consultancy SNE Research, Chinese companies accounted for six of the top 10 battery makers globally in terms of installations last year, with CATL again ranking at the top with a market share of 37%.
Last month, CATL licensed its EV battery technologies to U.S. automaker Ford Motor for the latter’s battery factory in the U.S. state of Michigan. Lyu Xiang, Researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said: “It kills two birds with one stone. It not only enables Ford to obtain various subsidies promised in the Inflation Reduction Act passed last year, but also helps CATL to avoid foreign investment security reviews to reduce some risks”, the China Daily reports.