5 More EV Battery Stories Out Of China
Growing electric vehicle adoption is built on the back of growing EV battery production. So, battery news always catches my eye and excites me. Though, news about battery supply deals or new battery production facilities doesn’t always strike writers’ fancy. (Okay, it seldom does.) So, plenty of EV battery news stories get put on our writer story sheet and left there, untouched. Let’s catch up on 5 recent Chinese EV battery news stories.
A new battery production HQ for BYD has been established, and the first few batteries have rolled off the production line in Xiangyang, Hubei province. This production line is one of sixteen planned for the facility, all of which are expected to be operational by May of next year, 2023. Those 16 battery production lines are forecasted to produce battery packs for 600,000 electric vehicles a year. That’s 30 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy storage. The first production line has 1.9 GWh of battery production capacity a year.
Chinese EV battery producer CATL has announced that it has agreed to provide Japanese automaker Honda with 123 GWh of batteries from 2024 through 2030. All of these batteries will be for electric vehicles sold in China, the world’s largest EV market (more EVs are sold in China than in the rest of the world combined). “The battery supply agreement will secure a long-term stable battery supply for Honda and enable both companies to maintain their leading position in e-mobility transition, marking another important milestone for their cooperation,” CATL writes. “CATL and Honda will leverage their respective advantages and sharpen their competitive edge, thus contributing to global drive towards e-mobility and carbon neutrality ambitions.”
CATL will be getting electrode production tech from Durr. “The mechanical and plant engineering firm is delivering an innovative technology for the sustainable manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. This will be used in CATL’s plant that is currently being built in Arnstadt, situated in the German state of Thuringia.” They emphasize that this is an eco-friendly, sustainable production process, as well. “The order placed in early 2022 comprises several systems based on an eco-friendly process for solvent recovery in production. This prevents tens of thousands of tons of CO2 from being generated every year and enables the solvent to be reused multiple times.” Technically, we’re talking about Germany here, but CATL is still a Chinese company. This battery production plant going up in Germany is CATL’s first outside of China.
Speaking of CATL in Germany, the first batteries rolled off of the line yesterday at CATL’s aforementioned new production facility in Thuringia, Germany. Again, this is CATL’s first battery factory anywhere outside of China. The eventual production capacity of this battery factory is expected to be 14 GWh. The plant is supposed to entail a €1.8 billion investment from CATL. Is CATL going to see how this factory does before opening any more in Europe? Nope. It is now planning another factory, this one in Hungary, and may even be on top identifying the location for a third battery factory in Europe.
Last but not least (or maybe least), NIO has indicated it will unveil its 3rd-generation battery swap station at NIO Day on December 24, 2022. Here’s a short teaser:
That’s it for now on the Chinese EV battery front. Let us know down in the comments if there have been some big stories we’ve missed.
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