PART 1 Week Index
PART 2 Weekly News
① CATL intends to sign a battery supply agreement with Tesla
On February 3, 2020, CATL announced that the company will cooperate with Tesla in business. The announcement indicated that CATL will supply Tesla with lithium-ion power battery products.
Currently, CATL and Tesla, Inc. have signed the agreement, and it still needs to be signed by Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
Within the agreed period of the agreement, Tesla will purchase lithium-ion power batteries from CATL. The specific purchase situation will be determined by Tesla according to its own demand as an order. The agreement does not forcefully bind Tesla’s purchase volume, and the final sales amount shall be based on the actual settlement of the purchase order issued by Tesla.
The validity period of the supply is from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022, for two years.
Brief comment: Since Tesla clarified the establishment of the factory in China, people have been speculating which domestic battery factory Tesla will cooperate with. CATL, as the leader, is naturally the focus of consideration for Tesla. There have also been rumors about the cooperation between the two parties. Today, CATL’s announcement has finally confirmed this.
However, the announcement did not mention much about the details of the cooperation. There is only the vague concept of “lithium-ion power batteries” about the battery type.
It is well known that all Tesla models have used cylindrical batteries. Model 3 uses 2170 NCA ternary lithium batteries. Currently, CATL mainly produces square-shaped NCM ternary lithium batteries. As for what type of battery will be used in the domestic Model 3, everyone can make a bold guess.
Another point of information in the announcement is that the supply begins on July 1, 2020. That is to say, the domestic Tesla Model 3 produced in Q3 2020 will start using CATL’s batteries. At that time, there will be three brands of domestic Model 3 using batteries from Panasonic, LG Chem, and CATL on the market.### As LG Chem’s supply becomes more stable and with the addition of CATL, the imports of Panasonic batteries are decreasing. The localization of power batteries is an important part of Tesla Shanghai factory. As the localization rate continues to increase, cost further reduces, and the next wave of price reductions is not far away.
For all friends who are preparing to buy cars, the most concerned point must be the performance differences of these three types of batteries. This is also what we care about the most. After Ningde Times’ batteries are installed, we will try our best to collect all three cars for the most comprehensive test.
② General Motors will launch a pure electric Hummer
On January 31, 2020, GMC released several promotional videos. The key information in the video is as follows:
- GMC Hummer EV
- Pure electric
- 1000 horsepower
- Wheel torque of 15582 N-m
- Acceleration from 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) in 3 seconds
- Officially unveiled on May 20, 2020
- Mass production in early 2021
Fast comment: From the currently revealed pictures, the front face of the pure electric Hummer EV still follows the design style of the old Hummer, but the power system has changed from the previous large-displacement engine to a pure electric drive. Although there are already two heavy-weight products, Rivian and the Tesla Cybertruck, before the GMC Hummer EV, with GM’s endorsement and some of the known power parameters, the pure electric Hummer is not inferior. However, in addition to electrification, the intelligentization of the pure electric Hummer is also worth looking forward to, which is not displayed too much in the promotional video.
In addition, from two signs, it can be seen that the GMC Hummer EV is a very important model for GM in 2020.
First of all, General Motors’ only advertisement at this year’s Super Bowl, the most popular sports event in the United States, which has a 30-second advertising price of 5.6 million US dollars, was GMC HumerEV.
Secondly, GM hired NBA superstar LeBron James to endorse GMC Hummer EV.
With these two points, I hope GMC Hummer EV can bring us some surprises.
③ Lynk & Co may launch a pure electric sedan with a range of 700 km.On January 31, 2020, a netizen exposed the spy photos of Lynk & Co’s first pure electric car, with an internal code name of DC1E. The car was built based on the PMA pure electric modular architecture, and Geely’s positioning of the PMA architecture is pure electric, high-performance and intelligent interconnection.
It is reported that the new car may be equipped with a 100 kWh battery pack, with a range of up to 700 km. From the exposed information chart, the length, width and height of the new car are 4850 * 1980 * 1530 mm, and the wheelbase is 2999 mm. The positioning is a midsize sedan.
Regarding power, there are two versions of rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive, with accelerations of 7.5-8.3 seconds and 4.5-5.0 seconds per hundred kilometers respectively. The integrated power consumption is 13.8-15.7 kWh.
The new car is expected to be released earliest this year.
Quick Comment: According to Lynk & Co’s pure electric product plan based on the PMA architecture in 2017, the first PMA model had a range of 600 km, positioned as an A+/B-level urban cross-border model, and planned to be sold in the Chinese, European, and American markets.
Currently, Lynk & Co’s new energy vehicle models are all plug-in hybrid models built on the CMA architecture. The DC1E will become Lynk & Co’s first pure electric vehicle. If this car can really achieve a range of 700 km as rumored, I believe this car will be a super heavyweight model of Geely Group.
As for the price of this car with a label of 700 km, high-performance, and intelligent interconnection, everyone can speculate in the comments section.
④ Ideal ONE will be delayed in delivery
On February 2, 2020, Ideal Motors released two important pieces of information on its official APP.
Firstly, due to the epidemic, the original expected delivery time for users in February and March will be delayed, and the delay time will be controlled within one month. The specific delay time will be communicated with everyone before February 15 according to the supply situation after the supplier resumes work.
Secondly, for a small number of vehicles that have been completed before the Spring Festival but have not yet been delivered, Ideal Motors will gradually start delivery for users starting from February 10 according to the resumption arrangements in various places.
Quick Comment: This epidemic has caused a widespread delay in the national start of work time, and the production of components of various automotive industry suppliers has been affected to varying degrees. In the case of Li ONE, over 10% of the components are produced by companies in Hubei, the area most affected by the epidemic, so Li ONE has inevitably experienced delayed delivery.
Although many of the owners who are about to pick up their cars feel frustrated in the comment section, they also express understanding. We also hope that some users can try to hold off even if they have already picked up the car, and avoid going out as much as possible during this special period so that the epidemic can quickly pass and life can get back on track.
⑤ Extension of the usage period of some small car indicators in Beijing
The Beijing Small Car Indicator Regulation and Management Office issued a notice:
In order to avoid citizens from gathering to handle vehicle registration during the epidemic prevention and control period, the Beijing small car indicators whose validity period ended between January 24, 2020, and February 29, 2020, can be extended to March 10, 2020 (inclusive) to handle the payment of vehicle purchase tax and vehicle registration procedures.
Quick Comment: For friends who have already purchased a car but haven’t had time to register, this brief extension has made time relatively abundant. As for friends who are about to get indicators and want to buy a car but don’t have a clear target, you can review this article: Choosing a New Energy Vehicle in Beijing in 2020, Just Read This One.
⑥ Toyota and Panasonic set up a battery joint venture
On January 22, 2019, Toyota Motor Corporation and Panasonic Corporation signed a contract to establish a new company for automotive prismatic batteries (strongly suspect the year is written incorrectly and should be 2020).
The name of the joint venture company is “Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, Inc.”, with Toyota investing 51% and Panasonic investing 49%.The business scope includes the development, manufacturing, and sales of large-capacity/high-output square lithium-ion batteries for automobile use; the development, manufacturing, and sales of solid-state batteries for automobile use, etc.
Quick Comment: From the above picture, we can also see that the number of employees in the new joint venture company is 5,100, of which nearly half are Chinese employees. Although Toyota has always been pessimistic about pure electric vehicles, insisting on hybrid power and fuel cell technology, as more and more competitors in the industry introduce pure electric models, Toyota has also begun to accelerate the electrification process. The new joint venture company will not only supply Toyota, but also provide batteries to all customers.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.